


Alls Fair to Save Your Love From War

by RABNerd28



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Adam lived, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Anxiety Attacks, Canon Compliant, Flashbacks, Gen, He'll come back from the dead, I might have accidentally made Shiro have a drinking problem, If I live in denial long enough, Let Shiro have a breakdown, M/M, Reunions, Social Anxiety Adam, Socially Awkward Adam (Voltron), shiro is a disaster gay
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-12
Updated: 2019-05-22
Packaged: 2019-06-26 05:22:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 29,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15656625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RABNerd28/pseuds/RABNerd28
Summary: The Paladin's had been back on earth for nine months, and Shiro still isn't used to Adam, his fiance, being gone. It's eating him alive and everyone is starting to notice. But when they find the location of a galra prison that might be holding human prisoners, he refuses to give into the hope that Adam could still be alive. Keith and the other Paladin's accept the mission, for the sake of the prisoners, and for Shiro.





	1. Anniversary

**Author's Note:**

> The only good thing that came out of Adam dying was that I suddenly know how to write fic again....That is in no way a good thing.
> 
> Originally titled: Adam Lived Bitches

Shiro placed his left hand on the plaque. Seeing Adam’s name there still hurt, even though it should have been long enough. For Shiro, he didn’t think it would ever be long enough. He left his boyfriend- fiance- here, alone, all for space, and he wasn’t there when he died. They didn’t have anything to bury. The explosion…. He didn’t want to think about it.

He placed the flowers he had been holding with his prosthetic hand at the bottom of the memorial, alongside someone else’s from the day before. At least one family came a day to remember the loved one’s they lost. Shiro recognized most of them whenever he was down here, but for now it was just him. It had been eight months since the end, and this was the one time he was ever here alone. And this is the one time he really needed it.

“Hey, Adam,” He choked out the words as he stared at the photo. He placed his hand on the plaque again. He closed his eyes and willed himself to hold back tears. “Happy Anniversary.” Just for a moment before it all came pouring out. The tears streamed one by one, the wound in his heart just as big as the day he found out. Just as fresh, just as painful, still filled with all the lost time. He willed himself to start to form words.

“A lot’s happened since I came back to earth.” He opened his eye. He had memorized every detail of Adam’s face, but he would always need to see it. “I haven’t told you everything, but that’s because I never feel like I have enough time. Someone has to keep the garrison from falling apart. Although I always believed that was going to be you one day.

“Keith’s good. He told me how worried you were about him after he got expelled. Though you really should have known he would have picked the desert over civilization. He’s become such a good leader. You would be proud of him. Although I don’t think you would be shocked to find out he’s part Galra. You never did believe he was fully human.” Shiro took a deep breath willing the words to come out of him again.

“I wished I left you a message. I know I was technically dead, and my clone was there when Sam got sent back to earth,” Normally, there’d be some kind of sarcasm in his voice, but he doesn’t even give the effort. “but I still wish I did. You wouldn’t hav-” the words became choked in his throat for another moment. “You wouldn’t have died thinking that I didn’t love you. Or that I had forgotten about you. I don’t know what you thought. But-” His breath became heavy. He was always good at finding the words for everything, but when it came to this, to Adam, he seemed incapable of useing them.

“I should have been there. I should have been the one flying that ship. You never wanted to be a part of anything like that.” Shiro smiled to himself. “Knowing you, if we were switched, you’d be saying the exact same thing right now.” The were three small beeps coming from this new arm. His meeting was soon.

“I have to go. Yeah, I know I’m the worst. Working on our anniversary.” There was no reply to his small joke, not that he expected one. “I love you.” He let his hand fall from the plaque, and stared at the picture a moment longer. He wiped his face of the remainder of his tears, and then began to make his way out of the memorial.

-

“We found the remains of the navigation logs from Sendak’s cruiser.” Pidge began, the schematics going up on the screen. “We were able to get most of the coordinates. So far they’re mostly just Galra bases, or planets that were previously occupied by the Galra. But we think that there might be a few locations that the Galra still might be occupying.”

“Some warlords or stragglers,” Matt continued. “One’s that could be defeated easily if we took them out one by one.”

“We don’t want to provoke any of them.” Allura countered. “We don’t need another attack on earth.”

“But we can’t have the separate factions grouping up together,” Keith said. “We also don’t need a second Galra empire.”

“Wouldn’t that technically be the third galra empire?” Hunk asked.

“Might be fourth.” Lance said.

“Either way,” Keith said, hoping to stop them all from losing focus. “We should stop it before it starts.”

“We’ll go over all the locations once we have them all.” Shiro said. “Then we’ll find out what each one is and decide what to do then. I think we should be looking for prisons and labor camps first. Our mission is to help others, and that’s what we’re doing first. Everyone in agreement?” The paladins and Matt nodded. “Good. Allura how’s your progress with the robot coming?”

“We’ve figure out how most of it seems to work, however, we have yet to uncover its power source.” Allura replied.

“Any idea where it came from?”

“No. All we can tell is that it has some similar designs to Lotor’s. But it doesn’t seem to run in the same way.”

“Keep working on it.” Allura nodded. “I think that’s it for today. I’ll see you all tomorrow.” They each grabbed their stuff and said goodbye to him as they left the meeting room one by one. All except Keith, who was now leaning against the wall. Kosmo at some point had appeared at his feet. “Is there something wrong Keith?”

“You tell me.” Keith said. He didn’t look angry, but Shiro could tell there was something he wanted to say.

“Nothing’s wrong Keith.” Shiro got up from his chair and started turned to make his way out of the meeting room. He was able to get out but Keith called after him.

“Shiro…” He really should have known that Keith would follow him out. The younger man knew what day it was. “Are you okay?” He turned around to face Keith, and immediately regretted it. The unknown expression had changed to concern. Just knowing why the expression was etched on his face caused another stab of pain to go through his heart.

“Yeah, I'm fine Keith.” Shiro replied.

“Alright.” Keith began. “I just know that today-”

“Keith,” Shiro interrupted. “Don't. Just don't.” His hand curled into a fist. He couldn't break down. Not now. He had to make it till the end of the day. “Not right now.”

“Okay.” Keith took several steps forward, and placed his hand on Shiro’s prosthetic shoulder. “You know I'm right here if you need me.”

“I know.” Shiro turned, Keith’s hand falling off his shoulder in the process, and headed back down the hallway, trying to become calm again.

_Just till the end of the day._

-

Shiro was in and out of meetings all day. Nothing big. Just minor negotiations or check ins on certain projects. He couldn’t take anything bigger. Not today. When he was finally done, and made his way back to his Garrison apartment. The one he used to share with Adam.

The doors swung open. When he found out that Adam had died, he expected to find it empty, all the personal stuff put in storage. But apparently Sam insisted that they keep it the same. Everything had hit him all at once when he the first time he had entered the apartment in years, and it never seemed to stop. The furniture was all the same, the little pieces of their lives laid all across. He refused to move anything that was specifically Adam’s. That left most of the study untouched, the pictures of Adam’s parents still stayed on the wall. His jacket was still left on the chair.

Shiro didn’t want to think about it. Didn’t want to look at all that was left from the love of his life. All he wanted to do was lie on the bed, and cry his eyes out. To hold the ring Adam gave to him. To hold Adam.

He went into the kitchen and pulled a drink off the top of the shelf. He didn’t bother with the glass. Just opened it and brought it to his lips, quickly swallowing, barely bothering to taste it, hoping the numb feeling would come faster. It didn’t. He removed the bottle from his mouth and made his way to the bedroom.

He stared at the door. Behind there were so many memories. So much time spent together in there. He let the door open. Everything was just as he had left it. As Adam had left it. The bed unmade, closet half open, an empty glass on his desk. He did this every night. Telling himself that he’d sleep in there tonight. And every night he couldn’t bare the thought of the other half of the bed, cold and empty. Without Adam there what was the point. He closed the door, and made his way to the living room and sat on the couch. He placed the bottle on the table, and slowly took out the chain beneath his uniform. On the end was the ring. The one Adam had given him what feels like a lifetime ago, but also feels like yesterday. It was a simple gold band with a ruby in the center. He’s still surprised he never lost it out in space.

Shiro finally broke. He placed his head in his hands and began to cry.

-

Adam looked at the ring on his finger. It was surprising that any of the guards let him keep it. The little stones of amethyst on it were probably worthless to beings from another world. But it was worth more than anything to him. It reminded him each day that he had someone out there to get back to. Had helped him keep track of the days and nights. It was their anniversary. The fifth one that he didn’t have Takashi with him.

“You know,” He looked up. His cellmate, Hunter, was laying down on the opposite end of the cell. Most of their time spent in there consisted of the two ignoring each other and starving from what little their captors gave them. “Staring at that thing isn’t going to make your dead boyfriend come save you any faster.”

“Fiance,” Adam corrected him. “And he’s not dead.”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night.” Hunter said. He turned onto his side and faced the wall now. Meaning he was going to try and sleep just as the lights all went out.

Adam couldn’t see a thing, so he began to twist the ring on his finger, just feeling the metal. Thinking of Takashi. He shouldn’t think that his love would come to rescue him, but a part of it couldn’t help it. After Sam had told them all what had been happening out in space, all he had thought about was Takashi coming back to him.

When he first heard it, a part of him had been so angry. Takashi was out there, putting his life into more danger than he ever had before. That was also the part that had him worried. Once again Takashi could die at any minute and Adam wouldn’t be there for him again. The only other part of him was hope. Hope that Takashi would make it home to him. That he’d still want to be with him after all this time. That he’d forgive him for everything that had happened.

There was so much left unsaid. So much that he shouldn’t have said. There was so much that he missed with Takashi. He just wanted him back. Just to see his face. Just to know that it’s all real. That he’s actually alive.

These aren’t the things he should be thinking of right now. He should be thinking about tomorrow, about the possibility of an escape. He lied down knowing it would take him awhile to fall asleep, even in the complete dark. Eventually exhaustion over took him, and he fell asleep.

Thinking of Takashi.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The vague design of the rings was given to me by a friend. They had an idea for if they and their partner ever got engaged they would exchange engagement rings that would have each other's birthstone's. Hella gay, hella cute, they said they want everyone to do it so I encourage you to do that.
> 
> I chose Adam's birthstone based on compatible astrology signs and then whichever stone I liked the best.


	2. Meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro and Adam's first meeting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I'm way too tired to be angry at the show anymore and instead I'm just going to passionately write this fic. Also I changed the title....because reasons.

Shiro lined up with the other cadets. They had just finished their last run on the flight simulator and would spend the rest of the year piloting the real thing, and he was more than ready. He mentally willed himself to look like all the others with faces blanks and serious, but the feeling of excitement could not be held down. He spared a glance at Matt a few cadets down. He didn't show it but he was excited as well. Everyone was.

“Congratulations cadets,” Iverson yelled to the group. “You've all proven yourself ready to pilot the real thing. Your assignments will be out tonight. Dismissed.” He gave a salute and all the cadets saluted back, before dispersing, and walking back to their rooms from the simulator deck. Shiro made his way over to Matt in the crowd and placed his arm around the redhead's shoulder, slightly startling him.

“Think we'll be together?” Shiro smiled as he asked Matt.

“Not likely,” Matt replied. He removed Shiro’s arm from around him so that it would be easier to walk. “They're probably going to pair us with cadets from the other groups.”

“Why?” Shiro asked.

“So we get used to the people we're going to be working with some day.” Matt replied. “Also, so the everyone else will now have to suffer through your awful jokes.” 

“I thought you loved my awful jokes.” Shiro said. He placed a hand over his heart in mock pain.

“No one likes your jokes.” Matt replied. “They’re all corny dad jokes that somehow get you dates.”

“I have never once used my jokes to get me a date. It's all my charming personality.” Shiro then smoothed back his hair. “And amazing hair.”

“Oh thank god. You've never subjected any poor guy to that.” Shiro gave Matt a light punch. Matt then feigned pain and began to rub his arm. “Also your hair is awful.” He began to run before Shiro could even think of pulling a second punch.

Shiro began to chase after the Matt. They both ignored the yells of one of their instructors as they made their ran towards the dorms. Shiro was about to catch up to Matt, just as Matt turned a corner, followed by the sound of a loud thwack, and Matt moaning.

Shiro stopped running as he saw Matt on his back, glasses askew, arms flopped out the side next to a wet floor sign. He couldn’t help it. He burst into laughter.

“It's not funny!” Matt yelled. He started to push himself up, as he let out another moan of pain.

“Yes it is.” Shiro got out through his laughter. He stuck out a hand to Matt, who took it and started to readjust his glasses as he stood. Matt was about to say something when the door next to them slid open.

One of the other cadets stuck their head out of the room, and Shiro couldn’t help but stare at him. The cadet had light brown hair and tan skin. His glasses were slightly down, so he pushed them up once he seemed to realize that Matt and Shiro were there. It was adorable.

“What was that?” The cadet said.

“Uhhh.” Shiro was at a loss for words.

“I fell.” Matt said, rubbing his back and not noticing Shiro’s stuttering.

“Oh.” The cadet gave them both a quick glance. “Okay.” He then ducked his head back into the room, and closed the door.

“Well that guy was weird.” Matt said, starting to walk towards their room.

“Who was he?” Shiro asked, following behind him.

“No idea.” Matt replied. “Probably someone from the other groups. You do realize our’s isn’t the only one in the Garrison.”

“Well I figured that.” Shiro pushed Matt in the back. “I meant if you knew him knew him.”

“Well, no. But I figured I needed to clarify for your sake.”

“You really are just trying to get punched again aren’t you?”

“No, you’re just an easy target.” The two entered their dorm room, hoping to kill time before their placements were announced.

-

Adam pulled his books from his bag and began working on the first of his assignments. The dorms would only be quiet for so long before most of the students came back and began to make noise through the walls. It would be even worse when his roommate got back. He always wanted to tell him about his day. Only friends did that. They weren’t friends they just lived together.

He knew that everyone was going to shift from the simulators to actually piloting tomorrow, which he was excited for. But the idea of meeting anyone from the other groups was annoying him. He was used to the other’s that were a part of his group, he didn’t need to meet anyone new. Hopefully they would be to busy flying to try and get to know him. Hopefully that would happen every day.

There was a crashing sound coming from outside his room, slightly startling him and ending his concentration on his work. The crash was followed by some loud but muffled voices next. It shouldn’t catch his interest, but most of the other students don’t come back till later, and his concentration was already broken. He got up and made his way to his door, pressing the button to open it. He peeked his head out of his room and looked to the right.

“What was that?” He said more to himself than to anyone else. There were two fellow cadets there. The shorter of the two had read hair and glasses, and the other...would be hard to miss.

He had jet black hair, was tall with broad shoulders. But the most striking thing about him were his beautiful grey eyes. The cadet stared at Adam, his mouth slightly open, probably from shock of someone actually being there.

“I fell.” Adam almost forgot that the red head was there, to distracted by the other.

“Oh,” He replied. Adam took one last look at the cadet with beautiful grey eyes. “Okay.” And ducked back into his room, closing the door behind him. He leaned up against it and slid down, closing his eyes for just a moment, telling himself to breathe. _In and out. In and out. In and out._ He could hear more of their muffled talking on the other side, but he focused on his breathing instead.

 _Stupid, stupid, stupid._ He thought to himself. _Why can’t I even try and have a normal conversation with anyone, ever._ He thought of the cute cadet with the beautiful grey eyes. He probably was one of those cocky pilots who snuck off to Plaht city before they were allowed to leave their final year, and never got caught. He probably had a million faces look at him, and probably already forgot Adam’s. In and out. In and out. In and out. His breathing was returning to normal.

He banged the back of his head against the door. _Don’t think about the cute guy you saw for two seconds. Don’t think about the guy whose name you don’t even know. Don’t think about him._

_Don’t think about his eyes._

-

Adam looked at his name at the top. He'd be the first one to fly along with his new partner. Takashi Shirogane. Adam didn't know him, but he knew of him. People talked very loudly no matter where they were. What they talked about Takashi. About how cool and smart he was. He'd broken so many rules and yet was never caught, while still having some of the top grades in the class. He was also apparently really hot. Adam didn’t need to think about that one.

“Hi, Adam.” Adam turned his head slightly to see his classmate, Hannah. They've had less than five conversations in his whole life.

“Hello.” He replied. He figured she would realize that he didn't want to be talked too, find her assignment and move on. He took out his phone to write down the time for the flight, just in case he forgot. Though that was highly unlikely.

“Oh no,” Hannah said. She was looking at the top of the list. “We're not flight partners.” Adam figured she was disappointed that she wasn't paired with one of her friends, when he suddenly felt a weight against his left side. He looked to see that Hannah was leaning against him, pulling on his arm slightly, and looking up at him, blinking her eyes rapidly. “I was really hoping we'd get to be flight partners, Adam.” Adam gaped at her, seeming unable to find words at first. Her lack of awareness for personal space causing him to be unable to find words for a moment.

“That's too bad,” He said, once he was able to find them again. He was able to squirm out of her grasp, and take a side step away from her. The lack of support caused her to go off balance for a moment, but she quickly regained herself and smiled at. She looked unaware that she had done anything wrong. “Bye.” He stuffed his phone into his back pocket, and began to walk away before she could get the chance to get that close to him again.

“Adam!” Adam sighed, letting his body slightly sink, at the thought of another conversation. What else did she want? They already said hi. There was uncomfortable talking. They said bye. He did all the things that were necessary in, everyday human interaction. He adjusted his glasses then turned to look at her. She was fidgeting with the edge of her shirt. “Are you doing anything tonight?” Adam stared at her. Seriously?

“No,” He replied honestly. “Why?”

“Since we're not going to be seeing each other as much anymore….” Did they even see each other that much to begin with? “I was wondering if you wanted to go out to Plaht City for dinner tonight?” Adam thought for a moment. He could go out, be expected to talk to people he knew while being surrounded by strangers that might accidently acknowledge his existence and then continue to acknowledge his existance. Or he could not do that. Stay in his dorm or the garrison garage, and not have to talk to people.

“No thanks.” He finally replied. Hannah looked taken aback. Why did she expect anything different?

“It doesn’t have to just be the two of us. I can bring my friend Ella, and you could bring one of your friends.” She seemed to have the answer ready in case he didn’t want to go with her. Wouldn’t matter either way. He didn’t have any friends.

“No thanks.” He said again, and began to walk away. Oh right. The end of another conversation. He turned his head. “See ya!”

People he knew made him nervous. No matter what he had never gotten used to anyone enough to make him feel comfortable. The second someone opened their mouth to talk, he froze, unable to respond, and his brain couldn’t work properly. Inside the classroom or in the pilot seat it was fine, he knew what to focus on. But everywhere else, talking had no focus. Conversations could go anywhere at any second.

He really didn’t like the uncertainty of it all. Didn’t like that any conversation not involving class or flying could cause people to not like him, just by a simple sentance. Would rather just live with everyone tolerating his existence. Don’t get close. You can’t hurt people that way.

And they can’t hurt you.

-

“I feel sorry for whoever is your flight partner.” Matt said. He and Shiro were making their way down the hall were there times and partners were posted.

“Yeah, I get it, I’m unbearable.” Shiro replied. One of the other cadets was standing at the board, facing towards the other end of the hall. “Hey, Hannah.” She turned around, sadness in her eyes, before she saw the two of them. She seemed to quickly recover as she started to walk, but ignored Shiro’s hi, and knocked into his shoulder, not bothering to apologize. “What’s wrong with her?”

“Who knows.” Matt replied as he shrugged his shoulders. He then turned to the list on the wall. “Start searching.” Matt began to search for their name’s. Shiro quickly joined him.

“Hey I found yours!” Shiro looked at the name next to Matt’s. “Veronica? I think I know her.”

“Sure you do.” Matt said, rolling his eyes. He paused his search of Shiro’s name to look at the one next to his own, quickly taking note of the time.

“I’m serious,” Shiro said, crossing his arms in annoyance. “I think Kara brought her with us last time we went to Trinket.” Matt gave Shiro his ‘Stop going sneaking into places that you shouldn’t go’ look.

“You need to stop going there. You’re going to get mugged.” See.

“I’m gay, asian and popular, what can they do to hurt me.” Shiro joked, side stepping just as Matt made his way to punch his arm, causing him to miss. He began to search for his own name on the board. He found it at the very top and read the name next to his.

“Do you know an Adam?” He asked. The time was so early. Who got up that early?

“Nope. Why do you expect me to know people? You're the one who's been to every social function on campus.” Matt looked at him annoyed.

“That doesn't mean I know everyone.” He looked at the name again. The name of the person who would train with him to go to space.

_Adam._

-

Shiro stared up at the ship. It would be his first time stepping inside the real thing. Taking it all in flying through the sky like he always dreamed. He’d waited so long for this and in less than a few minutes it would happen. He knew that they would only be doing something simple today. Probably what they first learned in the simulators. But it was still everything he wanted, and had to stop himself from bouncing with excitement.

He hoped Adam would get here soon so that they could get started.

-

Adam stepped off of the elevator onto the flight deck. He was a few minutes early which was good. He didn’t want to be late, and his flight partner was probably at least waking up by now. He’d probably at least be late enough that they could skip the initial introduction and go straight to flying. He kept making his way to the assigned ship. He went around one of the other ships and stopped.

Looking up at the ship that he was about to fly was another cadet. He was tall with broad shoulders and black hair. This must be Takashi. He was hoping that their instructor would be here before both of them. Then he'd be able to avoid doing the awkward introductions himself, and just skip straight to flying.

Takashi turned his head. He noticed Adam and smiled at him. Adam had been observing him the whole time, but what made him realize that he'd seen Takashi before, were those beautiful grey eyes. The ones that caused his heart to skip a beat, and his thinking to stop. For just a moment. The smile had distracted Adam and he hadn’t noticed that Takashi had made his way over.

“Hi,” He said. “I'm Takashi Shirogane, but everyone just calls me Shiro.” Takashi stuck his hand out to Adam. Adam briefly hesitated a moment. He looked Takashi up and down before deciding to take his hand.

“It’s nice to meet you. I’m Adam.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Adam is the most accidentally cool person ever, but he really just has crippling social anxiety and is the worst at reading feelings.


	3. Dealing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would like to apologize for taking so long to update. My friend got me into Naruto, and I made it my mission in life to finish it all in a month so I got hella distracted and didn't work on the chapter. Hopefully things won't take a month and a half to update from now on.
> 
> Also I might have made Shiro an alcoholic and I can't believe I'm going down this route.
> 
> Also if it doesn't have emotion behind it, I can't write it...sorry for any and all scenes that involve awkward exposition and giving out missions in a serious setting.

Shiro woke up to several beeps coming from his phone going and half his body on the ground instead of the couch. A slight pain pulsed against the front of his head. He rubbed at his eyes, trying to give himself the illusion that he’ll become more awake. He heard the sound of glass rowling against the floor. He turned his head towards the sound, only to see that he had kicked the bottle from last night on accident. He reached forward to grab it, groaning in the process. There was barely anything left, but at least he didn’t dream. The galra, the gladiator matches, the astral plane, Adam. None of them entered his mind during the night. He slowly got himself up slowly and headed to the kitchen. He placed the bottle back on the shelf. There was one other bottle left, and he made a mental note to pick up some more later.

He started to prepare coffee. Once he was done he made his way to the bathroom to take a shower. He turned the water all the way up, then started pulling off yesterday’s uniform. He only gave himself a moment to look in the mirror. He weirdly never saw his reflection much when they were traveling in space. Never even thought much about it. The scar on his face stopped being foreign to him long ago, but the hair sometimes still shocked him. The glow of his arm used to make it hard to sleep, but he found other things made things to make it easier. The scars aligning his shoulder and back he never wanted to look at. Memories would hit him too hard.

Placing his prosthetic hand under the water, it felt warm. Which meant it would feel like the rest of his skin was burning off. But it was the only way he was able feel something against his skin. The few minutes he spent in there the only conscious moments where he felt relief. His only focus was the water, washing all the stress of the day before, so he didn't feel it at the start. He stepped inside. His mind went blank.

A small beep went off after five minutes, reminding him that the shower wasn't just for getting pelted with water and causing his mind to go blank. He grabbed the shampoo and started running it through his hair. Everything else followed and he was done. He shouldn't stay in there any longer. The water would stop clearing his head and just cause his thoughts to return. The rest of the day would normally cause a distraction.

He turned the water off and grabbed a towel to dry himself. Picking up yesterday's uniform, he went to the laundry room and placed everything inside and started the wash. The machine whirred. He pulled his other uniform out of the dryer and put it on. He went back into the kitchen and poured himself his cup of coffee. He looked at the small clock on the machine.

Shiro had just enough time to see Adam before his day started.

-

The lights never immediately woke Adam up, but the blair of noise that came with them did. Prisoners didn’t do anything for most of the day. There was an hour where they were allowed out of their cells, but that was about it. The rest of the time, they stayed in the cells. Eating and sleeping when they were told to eat and sleep. Every few days a guard would take a prisoner somewhere, and then they’d never come back. No one knew what happened to them. But sometimes there were screams. At least on the first day.

The screams should make him go crazy. The silence should make him go crazy. Being locked in a box with six sides should make him go crazy. But he hasn’t. At least he hopes he hasn’t.

It was around hour five of the day. They were both staring at nothing. Breakfast was eaten at hour four. They had till hour 10 before lunch, or whatever the equivalent was. A rumbling sounded through the walls, startling the two out of their staring. It started jolting the cell, a part of the ceiling broke off and fell in the center. They both stood up quickly.

“What was that?” Hunter asked. Adam didn’t acknowledge him as he ran to the door. He peeked through the small window on it. He saw a galra guard running past his cell, when something closed around their neck, and they let out a scream. The galra was quickly pulled back and their scream was cut off by a choked gasp and a guttural squishing sound.

“Humans.” A gruff voice said.

“Just like the paladins.” A much higher voice filled with excitement responded. “Is it just me or do they all look the same?”

“There are plenty of warlords who would pay to see humans participate in their arena’s.” The gruff voice said, ignoring the other’s question. “Especially after the champion provided such entertainment in Zarkon’s.” Adam was about to turn his ear to the door to hear more, when a pair of pale eyes appeared at the slit.

“Gah!” He stepped back from the door, quickly losing his balance and falling, as the alien on the other side began to punch at the door. Large dents began to form through to the otherside. He he never thought anyone could have that much strength. Eventually the door fell, only inches from Adam’s feet. Dust formed around the outline, causing him to cough and close his eyes.

He opened his eyes and stared at the two aliens in front of him. They were most likely galra, but not fully as far as he could tell. One was blue, had a white eye, and was bigger than the other. The other was pink, smaller, and had a sick smile on her face. The blue one picked him up from the ground, bringing him to eye level. He was petrified, not even attempting to struggle. She looked him over.

“This one seems alive,” She said. Another galra appeared behind the two.

“What should we do with the broken ones?” They asked.

“Kill them. They serve no purpose.” She replied. Adam could feel his start to compress. She was strong, and was going to kill him if she didn’t let him go. Oh god, he was going to die.

“Aaaah!” Adam wanted to turn to the noise, but he couldn’t. He knew it was Hunter making a charge at the galra. He was less than a yard away when the pink women did a small run, jumped and kicked him in the chest. He practically flew against the floor, hitting the wall. He started to cough up blood, seeming to have broken something.

“Oooh. This one’s putting up a fight.” Adam watched as the pink alien made her way to him. She grabbed Hunter by the neck. He gasped at her hands, and tried to kick out, but all she did was smirk evilly at him. There was a snap that Adam didn't think he would ever forget, and he stopped kicking. “Now he’s not.” She dropped his body and looked at Adam. “What about you?” Adam was so shaken he couldn't think of an answer. He should fight. He shouldn’t do nothing like a scared child. But he was frozen, shaken. Unable to recall a single thing that the garrison had prepared him for. “This is a smart one. I think it also might be cute by human standards.” The blue one turned as more of the galra showed up. She threw him at their feet.

“Take this one. Put him with the others.” The two him by the arms, and dragged him out of the cell, to wherever they were keeping the others.

-

“We think we found the coordinates to a galra prison.” Pidge said. The screen changed, showing a star chart, which then zoomed in on a specific section of it.

“There were apparently a significant number of stops there by Sendak troops during his occupation of Earth.” Matt said.

“Should we head out there?” Lance said.

“At the very least we need to send the lions.” Keith said.

“We could wormhole there and back. It’d be less than a few vargas.” Allura said. Several of the officers have each other a few confused glances.

“She means hours.” Hunk said. You would think the people in the room would be used to Altean time terms by now, he thought.

“All those in favor of sending out the lions, raise your hand.” Iverson asked. Everyone seemed to raise their hand. “All in opposition.” No one raised them.

“The lions will be sent out within the next few days,” Shiro said. “That should at least give some time to prepare, but an official date will be given out tomorrow.”

-

Keith made his way down the corridor, and stopped at Shiro’s door. It was the same one he had before Kerberos. The sun had barely peeked over the horizon but Shiro had always been an early riser, so he figured he wouldn't wake up the other man.

“Shiro.” He called as he knocked on the door. He didn't hear a reply. He knocked again. “Shiro.” An answer still didn’t come and started to become concerned. He keyed in the access code Shiro had given him in case of emergencies. The door opened with a swish and he walked in.

The front entrance hadn’t changed since his first time Shiro brought him here. He started making his way to the bedroom, barely sparing a glance at the small kitchen or what was considered a living room. He opened the door and looked inside, expecting to see Shiro sprawled out on the bed asleep. But he wasn’t there. 

Keith stepped inside and started to make his way around the room. Something about the space felt off. Nothing in there seemed to remind him of Shiro. It seemed unlived in. At least not for awhile. At least not by Shiro. None of his clothes were in there, nothing from the time they spent in space, the bed was unmade, but Shiro was just like that.

He made it to the nightstand. He saw there was a picture frame faced down, slightly covered in dust. Keith picked it up. It was Shiro and Adam, after their graduation. Keith hadn't known Shiro yet but he had told him it was also the day that they got together. They were both really dense apparently.

There was a stab in his chest as Keith felt heartbreak pierce him. It had hurt to find out that Adam had died, but he knew it was nothing compared to Shiro’s. He didn’t want to think about what he was going through, if just looking at a picture seemed to hurt. There was still some dust on the frame, so he blew it off before placing the frame back on the nightstand. He place the picture upright, but facing away from the bed. Shiro should at least be reminded that it was there. He needed to deal with Adam being gone, not matter how much it hurt.

He walked out of the bedroom, thinking if it was possible for Shiro to have left already, when he heard a series of beeps coming from the living room. He walked in and saw Shiro's phone on the coffee table, making noises with the message “Get up,” splayed across the screen.

“Keith?” Keith turned slightly. Shiro was sitting up on the couch, clearly just waking up. He had a confused look on his face as he yawned. “What are you doing here?”

“I needed to talk to you.” Keith responded. He turned off the alarm, not wanting to hear the repeating tone. “Why were you sleeping on the couch?”

“I must have fallen asleep here last night.” Shiro rubbed his eyes to fight off sleep. Keith couldn't help but feel suspicious. “That happens Keith.”

“I know.” Keith walked over and handed Shiro his phone. 

“Thanks.” Shiro said taking it. He got up and stretched before making his way to the kitchen. He pulled the instant coffee down from the cabinets and started to make himself some. He turned his head to Keith. “You want some?”

“No thanks.” Keith said. He had followed Shiro into the kitchen and was now sitting at the island that took up most of the space. Shiro shrugged at the response.

“Suit yourself.” He finished putting the coffee in and pressed start on the coffee maker. He turned around to face Keith, leaning up against the back of the counter. “What is it that you wanted to talk about?” Keith stared down at his hands and started picking his nails nervously.

“I know you said that you didn't want to talk about this…” Keith trailed off thinking how to phrase it. “But I'm worried about you.” Shiro looked at Keith confused.

“Keith. I'm fine.” He said.

“You say that, but you've been acting different.” Keith replied,standing and finally looking up from his hands.

“What are you talking about?” Shiro asked.

“Just...you’ve been distant. I feel like we haven't really talked in months.” Shiro was about to respond but Keith quickly interrupted him. “And don't say it's because we've both been busy. I still talk to Lance and everyone else outside of missions. But you, it's like you ghosted.” Keith looked back down at his hands, feeling embarrassed about his concerns.

“I think that's because what I'm doing is different from what you're doing.” Keith sighed. Shiro noticed how frustrated Keith looked and made his way over to the island. He placed a hand on his shoulder. “I'm sorry if I've been distant since getting back to earth. But I want you to know that you can still come to me if you feel that way. I'm always here for you, no matter what. Okay?”

Keith smiled sadly. “Okay.” Keith wrapped his arms around Shiro, who returned the hug. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” Shiro removed himself from Keith's arms. “Besides you shouldn't be worried about me anyway.” He turned away and went back to the counter. “You have a big mission today.” He pulled a mug from the cabinet and poured himself a cup of coffee. 

“I can do both.” He said while shrugging. Shiro turned to face Keith again, blowing on his cup.

“So, what do you and Lance talk about?” He asked, taking a sip of his coffee while smirking. Keith’s eyes opened wide in panic before an angry pout took over his face. He crossed his arms and looked away from Shiro.

“I'm going back in the closet.” He said. He then turned his back to Shiro and walked out of the kitchen.

“Keith.” Shiro called, humor laced in his voice.

“Nope. I live in the closet again. It's happening.” He had now turned the corner and Shiro could no longer see him.

“That's an outdated term Keith!” Shiro called. He heard the hallway closet door sliding open.

“I don't care!” Keith yelled. The door swished closed, as Shiro chuckled to himself.

“You can’t do that! You have a mission!” He called. The sound of the hallway closet opening rang out, followed by Keith’s footsteps.

“I'll go back into the closet after the mission.” Keith had made his way back into the kitchen and walked past Shiro to get to the front door. Thoroughly annoyed by the Atlas Captain.

“Still outdated.” Shiro reached his hand out to mess up Keith’s hair, but he could barely get it as the paladin ducked under his arm and halfway the door quicker than he’d ever seen him. He now was walking backwards in order to face Shiro.

“Still don't care.” He ducked through the front door before Shiro could respond. The two both smiled to themselves as they were left alone.

The best part of being back on earth, was doing stuff like that again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dreamworks can pry gay Keith from my cold, dead, gay glitter filled hands!
> 
> My little Klance shipper heart couldn't help but add that baby Klance moment in there, but that's pretty much the only hint of it throughout the fic. They'll talk and stuff, but there's no mention of possible romantic feelings between the two other than Shiro being an annoying human to Keith. If it annoys people too much I'll tag it, but for now it is un-tagged.
> 
> I really enjoy the Keith/Shiro dynamic, and I think it is the most developed relationship in the show. Literally cried over these two, how could I not! I did always want to see them in a less serious situation though, so even though Shiro is about to go through some hella serious issues, and Keith is going to realize those hella serious issues, this is how I imagine they are when they have some down time. Just two best friends who make fun of each other, because that is literally how those work....I think....They're both over dramatic gays, which as an over dramatic gay, who is friends with an over dramatic gay who made me watch Naruto, this is accurate.


	4. Cool Points

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took forever. But shout out to NaNoWriMo for making me write things.

“Hey loser.” Shiro said as he placed his bag on the couch in the student lounge and flopped between it and Matt.

“Hey weirdo.” Matt replied, not even looking up. He typed at his tablet, a glossy bored look in his eyes. “How was your flight?”

“Great. Exhausting.” Shiro replied. “I think my flight partner doesn’t like me.”

“There’s a first time for everything.” Matt replied, eyes still focused on his tablet. “Who is this mysterious Unicorn, and when can I meet him?”

“Haha, very funny.” Shiro replied sarcastically. “Adam was just so...serious the entire time. I don’t think he wanted to be paired with me.”

“To the shock of everyone, someone didn’t want to be paired with you.”

“You are really playing up the insult half of our friendship today, aren’t you.”

“Yup.”

“You are so lucky.” Shiro practically jumped as an unfamiliar face appeared between him and Matt from behind the couch. The voice belonged to girl with long black hair, and pale skin. She had laid her arms over the back of the couch and was resting her head on her hands.

“What the hell!” Matt yelled at her. His tablet had nearly fallen off of his lap and he had to resteady it in his hands before it could fall to the ground.

“Uh, who are you?” Shiro asked. The girl who had appeared behind them wore a mischievous grin on her face. Or excited. It was hard to tell.

“Oh, sorry.” She hopped over the couch and placed herself firmly between Shiro and Matt. She then stuck her hand out to Shiro. “I’m Theo.”

“Shiro,” He replied before taking her hand and flashing her a smile. She smiled back, as he let go of her hand and leaned back against the couch. “Now, what exactly makes me so lucky?”

“You’ve got Adam as your flight partner.” She says. There was a hint of superiority in her voice, along with some kind of whimsy and amazement. “He’s sooo cool. I’d give my left leg to be his flight partner.”

“Seriously?” Shiro asked, confusedly. From what he could tell, Adam didn’t seem like the cool type. Theo gave him an annoyed look.

“You didn’t think he was cool?” She seemed offended by the very notion.

“It’s not the first thing that comes to mind when I think of Adam.” Shiro replied honestly. She clearly became more annoyed at his observation. “We didn’t really talk much outside of what was going on with out flight. As far as I can tell, he’s just serious. He’s a good pilot though.”

“That’s part of what makes him so cool.” She slammed her hands on the couch in front of her as she said this, causing Shiro to lean back from her. “He’s got that whole dark broody silent thing going on. I’d love to grab hold of him from behind on his-”

“Okay!” Shiro said very loudly, just as he covered her mouth. “That’s enough from you. I do not need to hear your fantasies about the guy I just met. Thank you for your time. Never speak like that to people you just met ever again.”

She pushed Shiro’s hand off her mouth. He was luck she didn’t lick or bite him. “Well no one really knows him. He’s more of a loner, and honestly I don’t think that matters to him.” Her eyes suddenly became wide with an idea. “Can you get me his number?”

“What! No.” Shiro stared at her in shock. Here was this random girl, asking him to get her the number of some guy she had a crush on, just because they were flight partners. “That would literally be the most awkward conversation in existence. ‘Hi, nice seeing you again. By the way can you give me your number? This girl I met the other day wants it.’” She started to pout and gave Shiro an angry once over. Some spark of realization appeared in her eyes, as if she suddenly realized who he was. Her pouting suddenly stopped, as she flipped her hair and started to bat her eyelashes. Oh no.

“Can I get your number?” Shiro stared at her in shock. She started to try and make herself smaller and cuter, he guessed, and Matt burst into laughter. She couldn’t ignore it, and her face became masked with anger as she turned around to call out Matt. “And what’s so funny!?” Matt had fallen off the couch and was unable to answer her question. Laughter stopping any words from coming out of his mouth. He was not helping Shiro feel any less awkward in this situation.

“I’m flattered,” Shiro began. Theo was still staring angrily at Matt. He hated this part so much. “but you’re not exactly my type.”

Theo turned around swiftly, the anger on her face switching to offense. “What do you mean I’m not your type! Shut up you nuccainse!” She was back at Matt.

“The fact that this keeps happening!” Matt yelled out through his laughter, slowly calming down enough to pull himself up from the floor. Her anger was still there, but was also mixed with confusion.

“I mean that you’re not my type.” Shiro told her.

“What is your type?” She asked. She looked at him very seriously, as if his answer would affect the rest of her life.

“Guys.” He replied. Her face became slack, not exactly with shock, but with disappointment.

“This has happened far too often to me.” She said. The air became silent, only broken by bits of Matt giggling. Eventually she turned to Shiro. “I’m gonna vault over the back of the couch in an attempt to make this less awkward that it already is.”

“That’s probably for the best.” They both nodded awkwardly, and she vaulted behind the couch like she said, and walked awkwardly. Shiro then turned to Matt. “I think I made a friend.”

“That was not the start of a friendship Shiro.” Matt replied. He seemed to have recovered himself and was resetting his tablet back on his lap. “That was the end of a very awkward conversation that no one needed to bear witness to.”

“I think it was both.” Shiro said. He took out his own tablet from his bag and started it up. Despite how much money the Garrison had, they couldn’t seem to be able to have a piece of civilian technology that wasn’t the slowest thing from Earth to Kerberos. “You think what she said about Adam was true?”

“What do you mean?” Matt wasn’t the most social person. Outside of Shiro he had three real friends, so he most likely stopped listening to his and Theo’s conversation before she asked him out.

“That he’s, ya know, cool.” Shiro asked. Matt rolled his eyes to stare at Shiro. Suddenly a smirk appeared on his face.

“I think her crush has infected you.” He replied. Shiro shook his head.

“I don’t have a crush. Just was wondering if he wanted to hang out with us sometime.”

“So you’re either using him for cool points, or cruuuuusssshhhh.” Matt sang out. Shiro slammed his head on the back of the couch and let out an annoyed groan at his best friend.

“Why are you literally the worst person I’ve ever met?”

“That’s what I ask myself about you every day.”

-

Adam stepped made his way down the steps. Once down safely, he removed his helmet and wiped the sweat from his brow. The space suits seemed to be hotter than the sun, and staying in them for to long was probably going to end up being a danger to his health.

Shiro had stepped down beside him, but he decided not to look at his partner. When Takashi took his helmet off after their first flight, he looked so good. Adam had lost what little ability he had to speak then, simply staring as Shiro ran his fingers through his hair. Time seemed to have slowed down, during those couple of seconds.

Adam shook his head at the memory. He really didn’t need to think about how hot his flight partner. Stupid unfairly hot Takashi. Stupid cool and smart Takashi. He really hoped that the semester would fly by, for the sole reason of not having to torture himself with being this close the other cadet. At least physically. Adam knew that they’d only ever be flight partners and after they either got kicked out, or, most likely given their high grades, graduated into the actual Garrison, they’d both go their separate ways and never see eachother again.

“A couple of friends are going to go into Plaht City tonight.” Adam turned to look over at Takashi. He was rubbing his hand over the back of his head. He had clearly been talking to Adam, but wasn’t looking directly at him. He guessed that maybe Takashi was feeling awkward, given that he just randomly shared his plans for tonight with him. Maybe he meant to think them and accidentally said them out loud. That happened to people sometimes. “Do you wanna come with?” Adam blinked at Takashi in surprise. Takashi wasn’t Adam’s friend, so why would he invite him anywhere? They’d barely had a conversation outside of piloting. Maybe working together made people believe that you were closer than you actually were. Adam must have take too long to respond, as a panicked look suddenly appeared on Takashi’s face. “I mean, I get it if you can’t or you’re busy or have other pla-”

“Yeah,” Adam replied. Cutting off Takashi in the middle of his sentence wasn’t the most polite thing to do, but he needed to stop him before he came up with a million other possible excuses and caused both of them to become overwhelmed.

“-ns-wait did you just say yeah?” Shiro ended his sentence in slight shock.

“Yeah.” Takashi gained a large smile on his face. Which confused Adam. Wait, did he accidentally indicate that he was going? He should clarify. “Yeah, I can’t go.” The smile immediately vanished for a more neutral but confused expression.

“Oh.” He said. “Um, maybe some other time then?” Adam considered his answer quickly. He needed to keep things good with Takashi. But he was never going to go out to Plaht City with his friends. Possibly. Maybe if he asked again. Adam brushed away that last thought. It was a bad one. He decided to be as un-specific as possible, while also indicating that he had a lot of things to do.

“Sure.” Adam said. He made himself smile, like he would say something that would be something he genuinely considered. “When I’m not busy.” Takashi gave him a look. He must have been trying to figure out if Adam was telling the truth. Adam never really had anyone look at him like that. He didn’t like it.

“Okay.” Takashi replied. The smile was back on his face, although it looked slightly off. Like it didn’t actually belong there. It didn’t reach his beautiful grey eyes and it gave off a feeling that seemed all too familiar to Adam. “I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

“Yeah, see ya.” Adam replied. Takashi nodded to Adam as a goodbye and walked past him the entrance back into the building. Adam took a minute before following him. He didn’t want to accidentally catch up to him, and end up in another situation like the one they just had. Possibly trapped in the elevator with no way of leaving. He did not need that.

Adam started to walk towards the elevator. He couldn’t figure out Takashi during those last moments. He acted exactly the same as he normally would have around Adam, but something looked different. Like he suddenly didn’t feel like Adam wasn’t worth the usual effort. Maybe he thought that because Adam wasn’t going to go with him somewhere, he didn’t need to try anymore. Which still didn’t make sense to Adam. A lot of people seemed the same after he turned them down for some kind of hang out. Not Takashi though. This was a first. Although he’d never been good at reading people, and was probably going about it all wrong. It was probably nothing.

Adam made it to the elevator and stepped inside. The doors closed behind him as he turned towards them. He pressed the button to his floor and the elevator began to move. He was staring at himself in the metal on the doors technically, but not really. He unconsciously began to focus on his own image. His focus suddenly made him realize why the expression on Takashi’s face was so empty. Like it was put on for show.

It was the expression Adam wore around other people. Everyday.


	5. Debris

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my god this took so long, and it was 11 pages when I finished. It helped me reach on of my daily goals, but killed me on another two for editing.

Shiro stepped onto the command room and watched on screen as the five paladins began to board the lions. Hunk and Pidge were sitting on some crates, talking rapidly, most likely through about something involving their lions or tech brought over from the latest aliens that had become their allies. Lance was leaning against the wormhole generator as he talked to Allura, but ended up flailing when the mice ran up his arm and he didn’t notice. Allura laughed at the mice, while Lance stared at them in annoyance on his shoulder. They just gave him innocent smiles. He looked to see Keith just walking out of Garrison Headquarters and joining the other paladins. He yelled something to them, and they all nodded. Each of them stopped what they were doing.

Lance removed the mice from his shoulder and handed them to Allura before running over to red. Allura placed the mice on her own shoulder and grabbed her helmet before running into blue. Hunk and Pidge wrapped up their tech conversation and made their way to green and yellow. Cosmo then suddenly appeared next to Keith. He pet the wolf on the head before walking into the black lion.

“Allura, checking in.” Allura’s calm voice rang through the comm’s as she turned them on once she got into the pilot seat of Blue.

“Pidge here.” Pidge said from Green.

“Lance is ready to go.” Lance said happily. Shiro heard Veronica make a snort of laughter at her younger brother’s excitement for even the simplest of missions.

“I’m here.” Hunk said.

“Keith, here.” Keith responded.

“Alright, we’re going to be out of contact with you guys, once you go through the wormhole.” Shiro told them. “So remember, reconnaissance for now, until we can get a clear idea of what’s going on.”

“Understood.” Keith replied.

“Allura, you ready to go?” Shiro asked her.

“Yes.” He heard the excited squeaks of the mice faintly in the background.

“Alright, ready for launch.” The lions quickly took off into the sky, and straight into space.

“I’m opening the wormhole now.” Allura said. A beam shot out of blue’s mouth and a large blue and purple circle appeared in the sky.

“Good luck guys.” Shiro said. With that, they went into the wormhole, the gateway closing as soon as they did.

-

Keith exited the wormhole first followed by the rest of the paladins. The wormhole closed behind them. The decision was too arrive far enough away that they wouldn’t be detected right away and reach the prison without any battles hopefully.

“We should arrive soon.” Pidge told the team. “Be cautious guys. I’m gonna monitor the scanners for any surprises.”

“Like any of the galra left could handle us?” Lance bragged. “They wouldn’t last five minutes against us.”

“Lance, do not underestimate them.” Allura reminded him. “There are still very strong members of the galra empire left. Even if they are scattered.”

“I know. But they’re scattered and unorganized. We’re grouped together. We have the advantage.” Lance said.

“That was almost strategic Lance.” Pidge said.

“Thanks!” Lance paused for a moment. “I think.”

Keith could hear Hunk chime in, as his friends continued their conversation. He didn’t think that he’d be able to add anything, and lowered the volume on the comm’s slightly. It was just enough so that he could hear in case of an emergency, but their voices wouldn’t break his thought process.

Something was really off with Shiro when he saw him this morning. Why was he acting so weird? Everything he said seemed defensive, like Keith was when he’d first met him. Only instead of using anger it seemed Shiro was just a blank slate. None of his emotions seemed genuine. Was he really that broken after he found out about Adam? He knew how much it hurt, but how was Shiro actually handling everything? Was he-

Shiro’s not sleeping in his room, he suddenly thought. That room looked unlived in for a reason. The picture facing down was on Adam’s nightstand. It had all the typical Adam stuff on it. Shiro had told him when he was younger that Adam was the one who got the picture framed. He didn’t even really look, didn’t bother to think about it. Oh god. He was so stupid. He should have figured it out as soon as he was in there! Fuck! Fuck his inability to pick up on social cues! When he gets back he needed to tal-

“Right, Keith?” Keith’s was broken out of his thought process at the sound of Lance saying his name. He turned up the audio.

“Um.” Keith hadn’t been paying any attention to the conversation.

“Told you.” Hunk said. “He wasn’t paying attention.” Keith scowled as Hunk’s statement came through the comm. He turned off Lance’s visual again.

“Keith, you were more quiet than normal.” Allura said, voice laced with concern. “Is something the matter?”

“Nothing’s wrong.” Keith replied. He did his best not to sound annoyed, but he still wasn’t used to his friends wanting to actually help him with his problems.

“Are you sure?” Allura asked again.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Keith insisted. “Why do none of you ever think I’m fine?”

“Past experience.” Lance said.

“And you saying ‘fine’ means the opposite of fine.” Hunk said. “C’mon buddy, we’re listening. Tell your favorite paladin what’s wrong.”

“What makes you think you’re his favorite?” Lance said defensively.

“Because I’m everyone’s favorite. Also I make great food.” Hunk replied. Keith sighed. He’d rather talk about his feelings than possibly have to put up with his team’s bickering. “So Keith. You know those things called feelings. You used to pretend you didn’t have any besides anger, but now you express them openly and normally sometimes. Share them. Tell us what’s what’s wrong with you.”

“Nothing’s wrong with me.” Keith said. It was true. There was nothing wrong with him. Besides having a stupid best friend who was currently being horrible with his own feelings and possibly his life decisions. Hypocrite.

“Is it your mom?” Lance asked. Keith knew that Lance thought family was the most important thing in the world. He’d do anything to keep his own family together and the same for any of the other paladins.

“My mom’s fine.” Keith replied.

“What about Cosmo? Everything’s okay with him.” Allura asked. Keith could hear squeaks from the mice. The wolf lifted his head up at his name, and looked around for the source.

“Cosmo would not be on this mission if there was something wrong with him.” Keith replied. Cosmo had moved to his side and placed his head on Keith’s lap. Keith pet his head and the wold made a face that Keith had always assumed was the equivalent of a smile. Cosmo then curled himself at Keith’s feet.

“It’s Shiro isn’t it?” Pidge asked. Keith didn’t want to respond. But the team could already tell that Pidge was right.

“What’s wrong with Shiro?” Hunk asked. The other’s didn’t say anything, waiting for Keith’s response.

“I don’t know.” Keith finally said. “I mean, I think I know. Like, if there’s something wrong I know why, but maybe there’s nothing wrong.” The team was silent after his statements.

“Keith, you are making no sense.” Lance said. “Go back and tell us what’s wrong with Shiro.”

“He just seemed so off this morning.” Keith admitted. “Actually ever since we got back to earth. And I don’t know what to do. He says he’s fine but…”

“You always said you were fine.” Lance finished for him.

“Keith, have you talked to him?” Hunk asked.

“I talked to him this morning, and I tried, I really tried to talk to him, but he just…” Keith let out a tired sigh. He didn’t know how to phrase it. “It’s like he’s only pretending to be himself.”

“Does this have to do with Adam?” Allura asked. The other paladins were silent. The only thing that Lance, Hunk and Pidge knew about Adam at the academy was that he was a teacher they never had. Allura didn’t know who he was till Shiro told her about his fiance on earth. But Keith knew him. He said that Adam treated him like an annoying little brother, which he might as well have been. He missed him. Had mourned him alongside Shiro. It clearly hurt them both that he was gone.

“I think so.” Keith said. He had to choke back the feelings in his throat, had to hold it together. “I don’t expect him to be okay. But every time I try and talk to him, that’s all he says. I wish he would stop pretending that everything was fine. I don’t think he’s even sleeping in his room.”

“Keith,” Lance started. “We all care about Shiro. If you want us too, we’ll help you with whatever you need to do.”

“That’s the thing. I don’t know what to do.” Keith said. “This isn’t a battle with the galra, or Lotor. I’m completely lost on what to do here.”

“We’ll figure it out then.” Hunk said.

“Like Lance said,” Allura said. “We’re going to help. No matter what.”

“Sadly Keith, you’re stuck with us.” Pidge added in. “And I am forcing myself to figure out an emotional problem for you guys, so I’m in for the long haul.”

“Thanks guys.” Keith choked out. “This was probably the worst time ever to have this conversation.”

“Oh absolutely.” Hunk agreed.

“Not the best time.” Allura said.

“You never had the best timing for these things.” Lance blurts out.

“Might be worse times.” Pidge added in. There was a series of beeps coming from all their control panels, indicating that they were close.

“Alright team. Get ready.” Keith said. They all dropped to a slower speed, and the galra prison appeared before them. It wasn’t what they expected.

“What happened?” Lance voiced what they were all thinking.

The prison seemed to have been originally on one large meteorite, but it was in ruins. The debris was still falling off the building and floating into space. Whatever had been there, must have attacked recently.

“We need to approach carefully.” Keith told them. “Whoever was here before us, could still be nearby.” None of the paladins spoke, but he took their silence as an agreement. They slowly piloted the lions down to the meteor, all clearly on high alert.

“There’s not reading on the scanners.” Pidge said. “I think they left. They most likely got whatever they wanted, and then blew it up to cover their tr-AAAAAAHHHHH!”

“PIDGE!” They all yelled, each immediately about to turn around and protect the youngest paladin from whatever was attacking her.

“Oh god.” She said almost immediately. Her voice shaking. They expected to hear the sound of blasters, but there was nothing.

“Pidge, what happened?” Lance asked. The other paladins waited for a response, tense from the possibility of anything happening to her.

“I think I’m gonna be sick.” She choked out. She sounded like she was about to throw up.

“What is it?” Keith asked. She didn’t say anything but her windows screen was sent to them. There on the screen was a dead body. A human body, wearing a garrison uniform.

He heard Hunk throw up, followed by some hacking along with Lance and Allura’s gasps. Keith stared at it silently. He got the same feeling of weakness that he did whenever he heard anyone talking about anything medical. His hands started sweating and his body was shaking. Whenever they fought before they had never seen the carnage beforehand. He was starting to realize how strange that was. They’d mostly been fighting robots, or didn’t see anything from far away. But this was right in front of them. He had to act so that they wouldn’t lose focus.

“Pidge, move around it. We need to go.” Keith tried to hide any emotion in his voice, but he knew his friends could tell that he wasn’t doing a very good job of hiding it.

“Alright.” she replied, voice shaking. The body moved out of the visual line as she piloted the lion away. None of them needed to keep seeing that. He watched for the green lion to pull ahead next to him. “I’m ahead.” She appeared slightly behind him, but he could still see her.

“Are you okay Pidge.” Allura asked the other girl.

“I’ll be fine.” Pidge replied. “I just need a minute.” Keith let her have it before giving a new set of orders.

“Okay guys. Time to focus.” Keith told the paladins. “We need to get as much information as we can then head back to earth, and come back with a plan.”

“Yeah, I don’t wanna be here any longer than we have too.” Hunk agreed.

They came closer to the meteorite, trying to find a place to land. Next to a large gaping hole in the side of the building was a landing platform. It was large enough for a galra cruiser, so they could all easily fit. Each paladin landed their lions one by one.

“Helmets on guys.” Keith said as they landed. “There’s no oxygen reading coming from inside.” He looked to Cosmo at his feat. “You’ll have to stay here boy.” He petted the wolf on the head. He looked at Keith uninterested before shutting his eyes again, most likely falling asleep. Keith placed his helmet on his head, and left the cockpit. He met the other’s on the landing pad. “We’ll have to split up in order to cover as much ground as possible. Pidge, did Sendak’s ship have any kind of blueprint?” She didn’t respond. He looked over at her. She was staring up into space. “Pidge?”

“Oh, um” She shook herself becoming alert and started quickly going through a mass of files stored on her arm band. She was still clearly shaken, and Keith was tempted to just let her play video games in Green while the rest of the paladins completed the mission. But they were gonna need her. He also thought she didn’t need to be alone right now. She finished combing through the files and pulled up a map. “We’re close to where any of the prisoners cells were, but there seems to be a set of rooms nearby but in the opposite hall. There’s nothing marking what they’re for.”

“I’m gonna guess that it’s nothing good.” Lance said.

“We should still check them out.” Allura suggested. “We might find something useful.”

“Hunk, Allura, Lance” Keith began. “You three check out those rooms, while Pidge and I check out the prison cells. Stick close together and keep your comm’s on. We don’t know what’s going on here.” The four paladins nodded. “Let’s go.” They each started up their jetpacks and made their way to the large opening.

-

“There’s oxygen in here.” Pidge said in surprise, looking at the reading on her arm band. The door to the cell block had closed behind them. “It’s low but it’s there.”

“The lions didn’t pick up anything.” Keith said. He floated forward towards the first open cell. Nothing.

“They probably couldn’t read such a small amount. It’s easier to get certain reading up close.” She checked the readings on her arm. “The gravity’s completely gone though.”

“Keep your helmet on.” Keith replied. “We can’t risk it. This place looks like it’s going to fall apart at any moment.” They floated along, passing doors broken apart, nothing inside.

“I could try and re-install the gravity.” She suggested and began to look through some of the schematics. “Although that might be useless. The whole system could have been blown apart for all we know.”

“We can work without the gravity. Focus on finding anything that could tell us what happened here.” Keith checked the inside of another cell, but only found the blown off debris of the doors.

“Is focus your word of the day or something?” Pidge asked sarcastically.

Keith didn’t reply. He continued to look through every door they passed, bayard in hand just in case something inside the cells wasn’t exactly friendly. So far nothing. He was about to look through one of the last doors, giving up any possibility of finding anything, when he heard a groan on the other side. He quickly pulled himself inside. What little light he had helped him see someone floating face down several feet into the cell. They let out another groan, and Keith flew right over.

“Pidge!” Keith reached whoever it was. He moved the man to be as upright as he could in zero gravity. Pidge appeared next to him, and began to take readings on the guy.

“His vitals are weak.” She said. “I think if he had more oxygen-” Keith immediately took off his helmet and placed it over the man’s head. It instantly became harder to breathe, but he chose to push aside the pain in favor of finding out what happened. “Keith! I don’t even know if that’s going to w-” The man let out a large gasp. “Okay, I guess it will work.”

“Wha-what!?” The man gasped out. His eyes were wide with shock, as he started to hyperventilate. He looked quickly back and forth to see Keith and Pidge on either side of him. “Who are you! What’s going on!” He tried to push away from Keith, but was so weak that he could barely make get him to budge.

“It’s okay. We’re here to help.” Keith breathed out. If they had gravity he didn’t think that he’d even be able to stand. “We’re the paladins of Voltron.”

“Voltron?” The man said, and attempted to snicker but was interrupted by a rough cough. “Where were you yesterday when more people actually needed it. When they either killed or took everyone else.”

“Everyone else?” Pidge asked.

“Why did they take you?” Keith asked. “How many people were here?”

“How the hell should I know.” The man began to have a coughing fit. “A good amount of us were brought here after the first attack. We worked for the garrison. But more came. Some of them were civilians. After awhile, they stopped bringing us in.”

“That was probably when we stopped Sendak’s forces on earth.” Pidge said. “What happened to everyone else here?”

“This place was attacked. There was this explosion, and then aliens came and separated us. They decided which one’s went with them, and which one’s were killed.”

“Who attacked?” Keith asked. His breathing became slower, and would have wondered how this man was able to stay alive for as long as he had, if he wasn’t slowly losing consciousness.

“Galra.” Pidge and Keith both new that this meant more of Zarkon’s former generals. The warlords could know if there were more of the prisons. But why would they want any of the prisoners. “I think- their leaders, there was this pink one. She barely looked like the others. And the blue one, she snapped another prisoner’s neck.” Pidge and Keith looked at each other. They both seemed to share the same thought. But they were dead. The man let out another coughing fin but then suddenly seized up.

“Pidge!” Keith choked out. “What’s wrong!”

“I don’t know!” She searched through the readings on her arm band. “I don’t know what to do!” The man’s seizing stopped. The two held silent for a moment, before Keith moved his hand to the man’s neck and checked his pulse. It was gone. Blood began to pour slowly out of the man’s mouth and floated up to hit the front of the helmet.

“He’s dead.” Keith told Pidge. He took his helmet off the man’s head, and looked at the small amount of blood that had hit the clear shield at the front.

“We didn’t even know his name.” Pidge whispered sadly. Keith wiped the blood off from the inside, then slipped the helmet over his head, and had to pause at the feeling of air filling his lungs. He then checked logs on his arm band.

“The helmet recorded everything. We’ll listen to what he said again when we get back to the lions.” He started to fly away, but noticed that Pidge wasn’t joining him. She was just staring at the man’s body. He flew back, and placed his hand on her shoulder. She turned to look at it then up at Keith. “We’ll make sure someone will come back for him. But we need to get this information back to the garrison as soon as possible.” She nodded, and set her pack to push her to the doors. The two flew towards the entrance of the cell area in silence.

-

The paladins stood in the cockpit in the black lion, just after the recording stopped playing. They were all silent for a moment, each thinking what to approach first.

“What are they doing to the prisoners?” Hunk asked. “Why only take some of them?”

“If it’s really Zethrid and Ezor,” Allura said. “We could ask Acxa. She would know how their minds work.”

“But why were they here in the first place?” Lance asked. “Most of the data was destroyed, and we couldn’t find anything else. Why would Sendak send them here instead of just keeping them in an earth camp?”

“Nothing good.” Hunk said. “Green and Yellow are analyzing what we could salvage from the server.”

“We need to get back to earth.” Keith said. “We can get this all to the Garrison, then get the Atlas to take us out farther.”

The other four paladins nodded. Hunk, Allura and Pidge left the cockpit, but Lance stayed behind watching Keith, who had begun to play back the recording. He looked way to focused on it.

“Keith.” Keith didn’t even bother to look at Lance, still focused on the recording. He had started to repeat a certain section near the beginning. “What is it?”

“Nothing.” Keith replied. He rewound the recording and played a part of it again.

“ _How the hell should I know. A good amount of us were brought here after the first attack. We worked for the garrison. But more came._ ” Keith replayed it again. “ _How the hell should I know. A good amount of us were brought here after the first attack. We worked for the garrison. But more ca-_ ” He zipped it back again. “ _-ell should I know. A good amount of us were brought here after the first attack. We worked for the garrison. But mo-_ ” This was not normal Keith behavior. “ _I know. A good amount of us were brought here after the first attack. We worked for the garrison. Bu-_ ” The piece of the recording was getting smaller and smaller. Keith narrowing it all down to certain phrase. “ _A good amount of us were brought here after the first attack. We worked for the garrison._ ” He must have been getting closer. 

“ _of us were brought here after the first attack. We worked for the garrison._ ” “ _-re brought here after the first attack. We worked for the garriso-_ ” “ _brought here after the first attack. We worked for the garriso-_ ” “ _brought here after the first attack. We worked for the garriso-_ ” “ _brought here after the first attack. We worked for the garrison._ ” “ _brought here after the first attack. We worked for the garriso-_ ” 

Lance listened to the statement Keith was repeating, but couldn’t place what was so important about it. He walked up behind Keith and grabbed his hand off the replay button. Keith let him, as the recording continued to play on.

“What is it?” Lance asked again, this time with more force. Keith still didn’t look at him as he pressed pause on the recording. The rest wasn’t important to what was bothering him.

“I think I’m starting to have too much hope right now.” Keith said.

“I didn’t think it was possible for you to have any.” Lance tried to joke and lighten whatever mood Keith was in, but it didn’t work. He was bottling things up, and he’d come to far to throw it all away. “What’s does that have to do with the recording?”

“What he said…” Keith looked from the monitor to the floor, and back to the monitor again. “He was brought here after the first attack.” He started to break from the sad look on his face. “How many people did Sendak bring here? How did he get members of the Garrison? Most of them were inside the shield besides the ones they first sent to attack Sendak’s cruiser.”

“That’s how Adam died, right?” Keith nodded. Lance was starting to put together the pieces. “You think that he was one of the prisoners.” Keith grabbed at his arm, as if feeling ashamed for even entertaining the thought.

“They-they never found a body. Maybe I’m thinking crazy. He’d probably still be dead.”

“Keith there’s nothing wrong with thinking that. He was your friend and you miss him.” Keith didn’t seem convinced, still looking ashamed. “Look, you’re not thinking crazy. I actually think you might me right.” Keith finally looked Lance in the eyes, a mix of shock and anger in them.

“You don’t have to lie to me.” Keith said. “Make fun of me for my stupid idea.”

“Is that an order?” Lance asked. “Well, I’ve never been that great at following your commands, so guess what: I’m not gonna.” Keith let out a small laugh.

“You’ve literally argued with me exactly one time while in the field. The rest all happen off mission.”

“Doesn’t mean that I executed any of them correctly. I just did them badly without you realizing it.” Keith rolled his eyes. “Look, there are people alive out there. It’s not impossible to believe that Adam’s one of them. Just promise you won’t actually go crazy with the idea.”

“Is this you being realistic and level-headed.” Keith joked, and smiled.

“It’s been known to happen every once in awhile.” Lance replied.

“Go to Red. We need to get back.” Lance nodded, and started to walk away. “Oh, and Lance.” He turned back. “Thanks. I needed that.”

“No problem buddy.” Lance paused for a moment. “And I meant what I said. I really do believe you.” He didn’t wait for Keith’s response and stepped out of the cockpit.

He headed back to Red and got ready to fly home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is getting updated more and more, because of NaNoWriMo. I wish this was a program available throughout the year, since it's the word counter that's making me write. I clearly don't know how the human body works.


	6. Getting to Know You

“I’ve literally asked him to hang out three times.” Shiro began to complain to Matt as they walked out of the cafeteria. They were a month into the flight program and Shiro still couldn’t get Adam to actually talk to him. “What would it take to get him to have a conversation with me?”

“I don’t know.” Matt said. He and Shiro had just left the cafeteria. “You could try not asking him to go into Plaht with us so much. You could also realize that he doesn’t like you.”

“He can’t hate me. He doesn't even know me.” Shiro replied.

“I never said that he hated you, just that he didn’t like you. There’s a difference.” Matt moved slightly to the side as a group of people walked past them. “Why can’t you just be fine with having a complete stranger as your flight partner? I’m fine with it.”

“That’s because you’re a socially awkward meme.” Shiro said back. He looked at his watch. “I gotta go meet Kara. She needs snacks for when her sister comes to visit and I said I would keep her company. See ya!” He waved to Matt as he ran towards the garage.

“Whatever.” Matt rolled his eyes and walked back to their room.

-

Adam cleaned the back of the hoverbike. It looked fine, and the blades weren’t jammed. But there was always the possibility of sand causing them to deteriorate and he didn’t want to risk it. It definitely wasn’t worth the risk of replacement. He should have installed sand resistant blades, but he hadn’t thought of that when he brought the bike to the garrison at the start of the year. The application process was surprisingly quick. He thought more people would want to keep some kind of transportation to get to Plaht easier, but most ended up taking the shuttle bus.

He stood up and walked over to the right side. He crouched down grabbing his screwdriver to remove the screws and opened the panel. He quickly took note of the chips in the paint around the panel. He decided to ignore it for now, since he’d been thinking of painting it a new color anyway. There wasn’t any color he was particularly attached to, but he would think about it later. He began to work through the wires, trying to get to a series of microchips in the back. He heard the sound of someone walking, but decided to ignore it. People came in the garage all the time. The sound stopped just as he looked down, noticed a pair of shoes on the other side of the bike. He only spared a quick glance before returning to work on the bike. He didn’t even bother to ask what they wanted.

“Oh sorry,” a voice said. It seemed somewhat familiar, but Adam didn’t focus too much on it. “I didn’t realize the was anyone in here.”

“It’s a public place. It’s to be expected.” He relied. He found the microchip in the back and pulled it out. It was completely fried, still warm in his hand. He’d bought a couple extras last time it needed to be replaced, and pulled one them from his toolbox. He threw the dead one in a bucket to throw out later, before reaching inside and locking it into place.

“I was just looking for a friend.” The person said. They seemed offended, but Adam hadn’t needed an explanation for why he was there. It was a public place.

“Well it’s just me” He replied. Some of the wires had started to come lose, so he started to tighten them so they wouldn’t break free. “You can wait for them wherever you want.” He then placed the panel back where it belonged, using the screwdriver to keep it in place. As he reached to put the screwdriver back, he also pulled the creeper towards him. He slid it beneath him and lie down, then sliding under the bike. His hand carefully pulled the toolbox under with him. The boots on the other side were now gone.

“Is this what you do in your spare time?” They hadn’t left. Adam was tempted to tell them to leave him alone, but that would mean several awkward moments between their friend arriving to take them away and now.

“Pretty much.” Adam replied. He felt around in the toolbox for a wrench. Once he found it he removed the panel on the bottom.

“Does it really need that much maintenance?” They asked. Adam didn’t see anything wrong and reclosed the panel. Some sand had gotten stuck in the pipes on the side, so he grabbed his rag to clean it.

“Normally no.” Adam said, not really minding the question. He could talk about this easily. “But we’re out in the desert and the sand has a tendency to built up and get stuck in certain parts. It can end up damaging a lot of key components.”

“Must be kind of annoying.” They said.

“Not really. It’s a lot of time, but it’s better than having a component break down due to weathering and having to replace it.” He cleaned off the last part, and moved more to the left. “It can actually end up being kind of relaxing, if you know what you’re doing. It was frustrating at first, but it’s real easy now.”

“How often do you take it out? Just when you go to Plaht?” They asked. Adam debated answering honestly. He didn’t really think he’d see this person again, so he guessed it didn’t matter if they thought he was a weirdo.

“I don’t really go to Plaht.” He admitted. The bolt on the end had rusted and he used the wrench to take it off. He quickly replaced it, and put the wrench away. “I really just ride in the desert.”

“Is it a clear your mind thing?” Adam paused at the question. He never really considered going out into the desert as a way to clear his mind, but he did feel different out there. A little bit more free. He thought it was a funny way to describe it, but it was as close as he could get.

“More like a free spirit thing, I guess.” Adam said. He didn’t say it as seriously as he meant to, but he didn’t take the notion all that seriously. Just the best way to say it.

“Oh my god. Are you a hippie?” They yelled out. They sounded amused as they said it, like Adam actually being a hippie would be the most hilarious thing they’ve ever heard. The idea almost made him laugh.

“No.” Adam laughed out. “There’s just no people out there. It’s easier to relax.”

“I can’t decide if that’s cool or adorable.” There was a pause, as if they were genuinely considering the answer. “I’m going with adorable.” Adam blushed. He was glad he was under the bike so that the other couldn’t see it.

“Shut up.” He said. It looked like the rest of the underside of the bike was fine.

“Aw, I think you’re starting to like me.” Adam could hear the smile in their voice.

“Yeah, don’t get used to that idea.” He made sure that he hadn’t dropped anything below the bike.

“I think this is literally the longest conversation we’ve had so I think it’s working.” Adam became confused.

“Considering that we just met, that’s to be expected.” He replied. Nothing was down there, and he decided that he should get out from under the bike.

“What are you talking about?” Great. He was probably in the same group as this person and completely forgotten their voice because they only talked a handful of times. Now he had to be awkward about something that was probably years ago. And it was going well. Which was bad, he reminded himself. He started to slide out onto the other side of the bike.

“Look, I’m gonna be honest-” He rolled out from under the bike completely, and stopped. The other cadet was standing on the other side, but had leaned over it and was now staring at Adam as he had slid out. But it wasn’t one of his random classmate’s. It was Takashi. His beautiful grey eyes were staring down into his own. But instead of the usual smile on his face, there was a look of confusion. His heart was beating fast, and he lost the ability to breathe, barely able to let out a quick, “Oh.”

“Honest about what?” Takashi asked. His look of confusion turned into small smirk when he saw the look of surprise and realization on Adam’s face. If Adam were standing his knees would have buckled, and he’d lost the ability to stand properly.

“I-” He turned his head away and quickly swallowed whatever social awkwardness was about to hit him. “I didn’t realize who I was talking to.”

“Really?” Takashi asked, the smirk growing. “My voice is pretty distinct and sexy. I’m surprised you didn’t recognize it right away.” Adam rolled his eyes.

“Whatever helps you sleep at night.” He replied. He started to sit himself up and remove the crawler out from under him.

“Maybe you can take me to the dessert sometime.” Adam looked up at Takashi. He was resting his hands on the bike’s seat, resting his chin on them, a puppy dog look on his face and looking absolutely adorable. How could he say no?

Adam started to think of that. Of him driving his hoverbike with Takashi behind, grabbing him tightly since he would be the only thing that Takashi could hold onto. Resting his head against his back, and squeezing tightl- he mentally shook himself from finishing the thought.

“Yeah, okay maybe…” Adam looked away from Takashi, trying to hide the blush that was appearing on his face again. Takashi looked like he was about to say something for a moment.

“Shiro, leave the poor boy alone.” Takashi looked up as Adam turned around to see who was talking. It was a cadet with short white hair, holding two motorcycle helmet. He’d seen her in the garage before. She had her own bike, and would occasionally be in the garage at the same time as him. They occasionally said hi or nodded to each other, but that was about it. “He doesn’t need to suffer through literally any of the horrible joke’s you tell him.”

“What is it with people telling me I have a horrible sense of humour recently?” Takashi lifted himself up from the bike completely.

“I’ve been saying it for years, just never to your face.” She replied. She had walked over and was standing in front of the two. She looked down at Adam. “Hi, Adam.” He gave her a shy wave in response, questioning how she even knew his name. He was pretty sure he never told her. “You ready to go?” She looked back up to Takashi, as he walked around the bike.

“I was the one waiting for you.” He was now standing next to her and quickly turned to Adam, large grin still on his face. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Yeah, see ya.” He watched the two of them walk over to her bike. She handed Takashi a helmet and got on. He hopped on behind her, as she started the bike. He paced the helmet on his head, and they rode off through the open garage door.

Right. Guys like that always have girlfriends, Adam thought to himself sadly. Not that it should matter to him. A guy like Takashi shouldn’t even be friends with a guy like him. He didn’t feel like working on the bike anymore, and started to clean up his stuff. He wanted to be alone, but didn’t feel like leaving just after them. It felt too weird. He settled for hopping his roommate would be gone when he got back to the room. He grabbed his tool box and made his way over to the exit, turning off the lights as he left.

-

“This good?” Shiro held up the box of cookies so that Kara could see it from her spot a few feet away.

She shook her head. “No, my sister’s diabetic. So nothing with sugar.”

“Gotcha.” He said. He tried to find something with no sugar, but that seemed impossible.

“So why were you torturing Adam?” Kara asked, looking through the aisle herself. Shiro as well, a little offended at her questioned.

“I wasn’t torturing him.” He replied. “We were just talking.”

“You didn’t try and flirt with him?” She asked. “Because that boy is too shy to hit on. He’d break form even your worst flirting.”

“I wasn’t hitting on him, and I’m not gonna hit on him. He’s my flight partner.”

“That poor boy. How does he handle you?” Shiro let out a long sigh.

“It’s official. I need more gay guy friends. All straight men and lesbians do is insult me.”

“You’re just such an easy target. It’s hard not to. It has nothing to do with us having an attraction to women. But seriously how do things work with Adam? From what I can tell you two are complete opposites.”

“Well we were having our longest conversation ever until you showed up.” Kara stopped looking through the snacks, and slowly gawked at him.

“How is that possible! You never shut up.”

“Probably because he avoids any way for us to talk outside of the ship. And when were in the ship, only talks about out flight.”

“Must be eating you alive, not talking to someone about anything but the garrison. So how’d you’d end up actually having a real conversation?”

“He didn’t realize he was talking to me.” He paused for a second and began to think about earlier. Adam seemed more relaxed than Shiro had ever seen him. Did he make him nervous? “Am I intimidating or something?” Kara paused for a moment.

“Well...you can be a bit much for some people.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You are the human personification of an overly excited puppy. You jump around at every new person you meet, and automatically decide that they’re your friend.”

“That’s not true.”

“Matt told me that you had a very awkward conversation with a girl you just met and after she left you decided that it meant she was your new friend.”

“You don’t know that she isn’t.”

“See. I’m surprised you haven’t gone searching for orphans to adopt.”

“That’s are literally what I’m going to do! First orphan I find I’m adopting!” Kara rolled her eyes.

“The sad part, I actually believe that. But you should know that this is the kind of stuff I’m talking about. Not everyone needs a guy to drag them into social situations or talk about other people nonstop.” Shiro rolled his eyes. “I’m not telling you to change your entire personality just tone it down.”

“I’ve made friends the other way for years, and it worked out fine. How do I know your way will work?”

“I don’t. But he’s clearly gonna like it more than your blatant flirting.”

“What is with my evil, evil friends and deciding that I’m trying to sleep with my flight partner.”

“Name one guy you haven’t flirted with?”

“How else am I supposed to find someone if I don’t flirt. Even then, I have like three options inside the garrison right now. Do you know how annoying that is?” Kara gave him a glance. “Right, you get it.”

“Did you flirt with him?” A smirk appeared on her face. Shiro immediately tried to defend himself.

“It was one line and it slipped out, okay!”

“What did you do?”

 

“I called him adorable.”

“Why?”

“Because he was being adorable.”

“That is some of your most blatant flirting ever.”

“I am legitimately not trying to sleep with him. I just want to get along with him okay.”

“Whatever.” She stopped at that and picked up one of the snacks to add to her basket.

“How well do you know Adam?”

“Not that well.” She gave Shiro a shrug. “We’ll pass each other in the garage, occasionally nod and acknowledge each other’s existence, but we’ve never had a conversation. He doesn’t really talk to anyone, always so focused on his bike.”

“He talked to me while he was working on it.”

“What were you talking about?”

“His bike.”

“And?”

“That’s it.”

“Really? I think you might have actually found a way to actually make him your friend. Or at least talk to him.”

“I don’t actually know all that much about hoverbikes.”

“It’s a starting point Shiro. You find one thing and work your way from there. That’s how most people make friends. Not having one conversation and then deciding that you’ll protect them at all cost.”

“And we’re back to insulting me.”

“It’s an easy thing to get back to.”

-

Adam layed on the bed in his room, trying to clear his head. The amount of noise was making it hard to do. Even though it was muted by the door, it was still distracting. The door swished open and his roommate, Jack, walked it. He gave Adam a nod, and Adam nodded back. This was the extent of most of their conversations between them. Jack began to rifle through some of his stuff to look for something, Adam turning to look back up on the ceiling.

“Ah shit.” Jack said. Well that broke him concentrating on nothing.

“What?” Adam asked.

“I left my jacket on the roof.” Jack replied. Adam rolled his eyes. Of course he’d complain about something as simple as that.

“Go get it then.” He said. It was the simple answer right in front of him.

“I can't, I’m meeting my flight partner to run some drills. Can you get it for me?” Adam didn't say anything, instead choosing to stare blankly at Jack as a sign of annoyance. “Thanks your the best.”

Jack quickly left the room, and Adam let out a long sigh as he did. He guessed there was no harm in getting the jacket. He wasn’t doing anything anyway, and it wasn’t too much of hassle. He also wasn’t so much of asshole to not do it.

He bounced off the bed and put his shoes back on, grabbing his own jacket. Given how cold the desert got at night, he figured he’d need it for the short trip. He made his way out his room and down the hall towards the roof door.

Students were allowed up there with a certain period of time, but there wasn't any supervision up there. Most went up to go do anything they thought they couldn’t get away with normally. A teacher would come at the end of the time to kick anyone off who was still up there, but everyone knew the time so most had cleaned up by then. They’d then locked the door for the night, but Adam was pretty sure that someone had figured out how to get in after hours.

He never went up there. Too many people did, and they normally weren’t people he wanted to be associated with. The real loud people who talked and wanted other people to talk. Who would pull you places without asking. He got anxious around them, but luckily those kind of people didn’t realize he existed, so it all worked out for the better.

The door to the roof was closed, and he pushed to get himself to the corridor for the stairs. There was barely any light, and Adam was starting to realize that this was kind of a safety hazard, but didn’t dwell too much on it as he climbed up. He pushed open the second door at the top, and exited onto the roof.

If there was one thing he did like about the roof, it was the view at night. In the few time’s that he’d been able to go without anyone else being there he spent the little time viewing the stars. This normally lasted less than ten minutes before other cadets came up there and he felt it was better to leave. He took a moment to stare up at space and appreciate the cold air in his lungs. Closing his eyes, he took a deep a breath. Feeling more relaxed than he had in hours.

“What are you doing up here?” Adam turned around to see Takashi. He was sitting against the wall that encased, knees curled up to his chest. He wasn’t sure why, but it made Takashi seem so small.

“My roommate left his jacket up here and asked me to get it.” Adam saw the jacket on the far end of the roof past Takashi.

“Okay.” Takashi looked away from him and up to the sky.

Adam decided that it was okay to stop talking to him and walked past him to get Jack’s jacket. A bottle of something rolled off of it and he rolled his eyes and the idiot’s dumbass behavior. He go to the door and placed his hand on it, before looking over at Takashi again. Even in the dark, Adam could tell that his eyes were glassy and unfocused. It was a look he’d never seen on Takashi before. He stepped away from the door and stood next to Takashi.

“Are you okay?” Takashi looked back up at Adam. His eyes weren’t glassy anymore, Adam becoming his focus.

“Yeah. Just thinking.” Takashi responded.

“About?” Adam should probably go. Takashi probably wanted to be alone right now. That’s why he came up when there was no one else there.

“Space.” Takashi’s voice was light at the word, and he looked back at the stars. Adam should have realized that he wasn’t wanted, and started to take a step back, but Takashi started to talk quickly. “Just how beautiful it is. We’re training to go out there one day, and we get to explore. There’s so much we haven’t seen.” He quickly turned and looked back at Adam. “Did you know that they’re planning a ship to Kerberos? It’s years down the road, but it will be the farthest we’ve ever gone. It’s just all so cool.” Takashi had that bright smile on his face, only it seemed so much more real than Adam had ever seen it.

“You sound like a little kid.” Takashi had a look that Adam read as hurt even though it was only there for a second. “I meant that as a good thing.” Takashi gave him a small smile again.

“I just really like space.” He scooted a little away from Adam and patted the ground next to him. “Come, sit.” Adam blinked rapidly for a moment, but decided to join him. Jack could wait for his jacket. That’s what he gets for being stupid.

“Is that why you joined the garrison? Because you really like space?” Adam sat down and leaned against the cold wall. Takashi let out a small chuckle.

“Sort of. Like space it cool, but I’ve wanted to be a pilot since I was a little kid. I would have been fine as long as I could fly.”

“So space is just a bonus.”

“Yup. But I still really love it. It’s so cool.” Takashi gave him a curious look. “What about you? Why’d you join?” Adam thought for a moment

“I’ve just always been good with machines I guess. The ship’s just another one that I didn’t get to try out yet.”

“Like working with stuff? Like fixing stuff and all that? Sort of what you do with your bike?”

“No, that took awhile to learn actually. I used to forget everything on technology. I literally had to make flashcards just to get by taking care of the bike.” Takashi let out a small laugh at that. Adam decided not to focus on it. “It’s more like I can drive anything. It just always feels so natural.”

“So you thought you’d be a natural pilot?”

“I wouldn’t say natural, but I at least thought I wouldn’t crash it on my first try.” Takashi laughed out loud.

“How horrible would it have been for your reputation if that had happened?”

“I don’t have a reputation.”

“Yes you do.”

“I’m pretty sure I don’t.”

“Yes you do, you’re the loner bad boy cool guy.” Adam blinked rapidly at Takashi in shock. “At least that’s what someone told me anyway.” Adam stared at Takashi, processing his words.

“People think I'm cool?” He stated it slowly, hoping Takashi would realize it’s some kind of mistake, and that he was thinking of some other Adam.

“Yeah.”

“How the hell does anyone think I’m cool! I am literally the least cool person I know! I don’t talk to anyone! Most of my time I spend in the garage or in the desert avoiding people! I don’t even talk to my roommate! That’s how bad I am at socializing! When did that become cool!” Adam stopped at the sound of Takashi’s laughter, and turned to see him fallen over.

“Oh my god!” He somehow was able to talk between all the fits of laughter. Adam gave him a confused and angry look. “You’re a loser!”

“I am not a loser. I’m just not cool.”

“Here I’ve been thinking that you thought you were too cool for me, but in reality you’re just socially awkward! Oh my god!”

“Is this why people keep talking to me! I can't stand this. How do I make them not!” His heart started to race, and his throat started to close. Oh god. He started to hyperventilate.

“Hey, woah. Calm down. Deep breath in, and out, in and out.” Adam tried to focus on Takashi’s voice. Tried to do as he said. In and out, in and out, in and out, in and out. He eventually felt his heart start to slow down, and his throat clear. Takashi noticed how Adam was returning to normal. “I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cause-”

“It's fine.” Adam said quickly. He ignored the anxiety building in his chest. He hadn’t had a panic attack in months. Why did this have to happen now? He decided it would be better if he went back to his room to be alone. “I should leave you alone.”

“Why?” Takashi’s eyes were wide with confusion.

“You wanted to be alone.” Adam stood up to leave. “I should let you be alone.” He started to turn around to leave but felt a tug on his hand, causing him to look back at Takashi who had grabbed it.

“I never said I wanted to be alone.” Takashi had not let go of his hand, which Adam would not admit to being really okay with.

“But you’re up here by yourself.”

“Yeah, that doesn't mean I don't mind the company.” Takashi practically pulled Adam back down to the ground. “Just a little longer.”

Adam stared into Takashi's beautiful grey eyes. He then gave Adam a small smile and looked back up at the star's. The glassy looked filled his eyes again, this time Adam could read the wonder in them. He wanted to have it committed to memory, but knew Takashi was going to notice if he stared for to long. Instead he looked at the same stars as Takashi.

They really were beautiful.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This ending is the most anime thing I've ever written. And I've written Ouran High School Host Club fic.


	7. Launch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not really fond of this chapter. I had to add it since it set's up the rest of the present day story. But really, the second half was painful to write, since it was really a lot of, actions that don't have any emotional drive. Just, let's get to space. I hate writing things that have no emotional weight whatsoever. How do people write action scenes unless it's a battle that will make you cry?

Shiro layed on the couch and took a swig of his drink. Something about this mission bothered him. It was starting to eat at him. Maybe it was the alcohol. He took another swig, and another. Maybe the blackness will come sooner, but it seems to take longer. He was probably drinking too slowly. Maybe it wasn’t strong enough. He looked down at the writing on the bottle. Right. He got the cheap stuff.

He grabbed at the chain around his neck, and looked at the ring. He should throw it out, lock it away somewhere. But he never did. Not having would hurt more than having it. He really hated both feelings, but there was nothing he could do about it.

So he laid there and he drank, just drinking it away.

-

Adam wanted to look out the window on the prison cell door, but it was never open. He’d occasionally hear a guard passing, but there was little he could gain from that. They’d all been there for only a day, but it felt no different than the other prison. Well, almost no different. The steady hum below him was hard to miss, after spending years in a place that sat in one place and wasn’t hurtling through space.

He didn’t get to see anything between this prison and the last one. Just the march to the ships. Nothing was there. He could barely look around him, the asteroid they were on blocking everything. Even the long expanse of space. He’d been thrown in the cell without a care. Whatever they wanted them for, they didn’t need to treat any of them all that well.

“They’re all human?” A deep voice came from down the hall, barely loud enough for Adam to hear. He pressed his ear against the door, hoping to get a better sound.

“Yup. Every single one of them.” He recognized the voice as the one that belonged to the pink Galra.

“What’s the lowest bid we can give?” Another voice says.

“A thousand gak.” She replied to them. “Though, we do have a limited supply. You’ll have to make your claim fast.” There was a pause and a couple of murmurs. “Have a look at the merchandise.”

Adam slid down the door. He was some kind of merchandise for these people. What would they do to him? The information that Sam had brought back to earth had revealed that the galra practically relied on slave labor for their empire. That’s what they were going to use them for.

His throat started to feel choked. His heart began to race. His palms began to sweat, his vision starting to lose focus. He tried to breathe, but not enough air was getting in. He couldn’t think. All the fear seeping in, being the thing to fill his lungs. He tried to think. _In and out, in and out, in and out_. It wasn’t working.

 _In and out, in and out, in and out, in and out, in and out, in and out, in and out. In and out, in and out, in and out, in and out, in and out, in and out, in and out. In and out, in and out, in and out, in and out, in and out, in and out, in and out. In and out, in and out, in and out, in and out, in and out, in and out, in and out. In and out, in and out, in and out, in and out, in and out, in and out, in and out_.

His hands started to shake. _In and out, in and out, in and out_. In the haze he slammed them together, thinking it might stop the feeling. _In and out, in and out, in and out_. He felt the ring bite into his fingers. _In and out, in and out, in and out_. The stones could barely be seen in the dark room. _In and out, in and out, in and out_. He stared at it and thought of Takashi. _In and out, in and out, in and out_. Saying those words. _In and out, in and out, in and out_. The same way he did the first time on the roof. _In and out, in and out, in and out…_. His breathing returned to normal. He was still shaking, but it was easier to manage when he could breathe.

The door at the window, was opened and the eyes of a galra appeared. It looked left to right, before pulling back.

“Hey, this one’s empty,” They called.

Adam heard footsteps, and then a loud crashing against the door. It vibrated against the door and he pushed himself away. Lying on the ground, still on the edges of an anxiety attack. He didn’t bother looking at the door.

“There we go,” The voice of the blue galra came through. “Just hiding.”

He was so shaky he couldn’t even think of the galra looking in on him. He heard the slam of the little window, and only then did he look up.

He definitely couldn’t handle this.

-

The wind swept through Shiro’s hair as he drove the car through the desert. Keith was next to him, wearing sunglasses and hair being pushed back as they sped up. Pidge sat in the back, looking over something on her computer, occasionally freaking out over sand in her eyes.

They were going to meet with Acxa.

Meeting with Acxa wasn’t the most comfortable situation for any member of Voltron. She’d joined the coalition, but that didn’t mean she was their friend, and it couldn’t erase everything she did under Lotor. But she made a home on earth, and was able to help them when she could. She also had Keith had a weird, “Let’s just keep saving each other, because we’ll never not owe each other”, thing going on and they seemed to like one another more once they decided to acknowledge it.

Shiro pulled up to a little house. It was bigger that Keith’s shack from before, but not by much. She didn’t seem to need much, and looked pretty content the few times they met her there. 

They spotted Acxa behind it, having set up what looked like a target range. She was in a firing stance, but was coming out of it once they pulled up. She turned to see them parked a few yards from the shack and placed her blaster on her belt.

Shiro opened the door, as Keith decided to hop over the side. Shiro knew that if he was younger he would have fallen on his face, and smiled at the thought. Pidge had to take a moment before realizing that they had arrived. She closed her laptop and rushed out to Keith’s side of the car. Shiro joined them, and the three headed down to where Acxa was walking up to meet them.

“Paladins,” Acxa said. She nodded to Shiro and Pidge, and gave Keith a small smile. “How can I help you?”

“We need to find the prisoner’s from Sendak’s prison,” Keith said.

“I don’t know if I would be able to help with that,” She replied. “By the time Sendak came to earth I had abandoned what remained of the empire.”

“We just need some ideas,” Shiro clarified. “You might end up having the best guess as to where they’re being taken.”

“I still don’t get how I can help.” 

Pidge opened her laptop and quickly opened a sound file. She pressed play.

“ _I think- their leaders, there was this pink one. She barely looked like the others. And the blue one, she snapped another prisoner’s neck_.” She pressed pause. Acxa stared at the laptop, the other three giving her a minute to process what she had just heard.

“I think you understand why we need you,” Pidge said.

Acxa nodded in agreement. She turned from the three and walked back towards her house. Shiro and Keith gave one another a look, questioning whether or not they should follow her. Pidge didn’t seem to think about it, just following the other part galra inside. Shiro and Keith both shrugged and followed Pidge.

When they entered Acxa had pulled down a box, and was going through it. She pulled something out and handed it to Keith. It was a data chip.

“Members of the galra empire don’t just hate the paladins,” She started to explain. “When they realized that they were all from one species, they started to hate all humans as well. Many of them would be glad to see any human blood spilled.”

“So they’re going to kill them?” Pidge asked.

“Not exactly. The galra want entertainment,” Acxa said. “Which they get through bloodshed. They’ve always been like this. That didn’t start and end with Zarkon. Even after he and Lotor died, the gladiator pits were still a high form of entertainment. It was how many of the warlords kept people below them. Stupid dumb entertainment.”

“Ezor and Zethrid took them for entertainment,” Keith said angrily.

“Yes. Most likely they’re going to sell them to the highest bidder. All they want is wealth. But the warlords they’ll sell them too, want human blood. They’re also looking for another champion. Given that Zarkon’s last one was human, they think they’ll get the same results.” Acxa glanced over at Shiro. He curled the fist of his prosthetic arm. He was well aware of what happens to Galra champions. “They’ll probably have buyers already lined up by now. And by the time you track them out, they’ll have sold them all. When I left the empire I searched for as much data as I could regarding what was left of it. The data chip had everything I got on the remaining warlords.”

“Thank you.” Keith pocketed the data chip. Acxa nodded to him again.

-

“Twenty thousand gak.” A galra shouted over the other galra around them.

“Going once, going twice,” The galra leading the auction yelled, pausing for a moment. “Sold!” The woman they were placing prices on was marked with a number, before being pulled to the side, and through a door. “Next!”

The man in front of him was pulled forward, and onto the stage. He looked dead on his feet and blindly obeyed their captors. Adam would be next after him. He’d had so many panic attacks over it all. Where were they going to take him? What would happen to him? One thing was for sure. Whatever they were going to do. He wasn’t going to make it out alive. Even on Earth the Galra weren’t know for treating their prisoners well.

“Sold!” He hadn’t paid any attention to what had just happened. He was next. Going to be sold to the highest bidder for whatever they wanted him for. “Next!” The guard grabbed him by the arm and pulled him forward. He tried to pull back against their grip but he wasn’t as strong as he used to be. The galra was able to pull him forward easily with barely a tug.

“Don’t even bother,” They said, leading Adam right to the front and handed him to another guard. He kept his head down, and waited for the right moment.

“Let’s start the bidding.” The galra said. Adam’s hands started to sweat.

“Two thousand!” He needed a way out.

“Five thousand!” There was only one guard.

“Seven thousand!” He didn’t hold onto Adam very tight, as if expecting him to be weak.

“Nine thousand!” There were to towards the exit.

“Twelve thousand!” The door was only opened with a button.

“Sixteen thousand!” He needed to act fast.

“Going once!” The auctioneer yelled.

Adam elbowed the guard behind him in the face, knocking him back and disorientating him. There was a loud gasp of shock from the crowd. He quickly ran towards the exit as the auctioneer stood in surprise. The two guards tried to grab him, but he slid under their stretched out arms before they could get to him. He stood up and slammed the button for the door, and was about to run through it, but stopped.

On the other side of the door, stood one of their leaders. The blue one. He couldn’t get away, the shock of his mistake rooting him to the spot. The galra grabbed him by the throat, and slammed him to the wall. Her face was animalistic in its rage.

“You’ve just become a problem,” She said through gritted teeth. She squeezed his throat tighter. His vision started to become blurry, oxygen unable to enter his lungs. “I should have known something like this would happen. All you humans are the same. More of you should have died when Sendak took you for experimentation.”

“Twenty thousand!” She looked confused at the words, and loosened some of her grip. She turned to look at the crowd.

“Twenty five thousand!” Another yelled. She looked at Adam again.

“Thirty five thousand!” She smiled at him.

“I guess they really want another champion,” She said. She let go of Adam, and he sank to the floor. He began to take deep breaths, too focused on trying to get some oxygen in his lungs too pay attention to his surroundings. She pulled him to his feet and threw him to one of the guards. Several other prices were yelled but he didn’t focus on them. She grabbed on of the guards. “If he gets away again, I will rip your throat out.” The guard nodded, and made a very loud swallow.

“Sold!” The auctioneer yelled. There were murmurs of anger at whoever had yelled the final price, but Adam could only feel horror.

He might as well be dead.

-

The Paladins gathered around the large screen, the list of warlords displayed on it. They each looked on as Shiro told them what Acxa had told him, Keith and Pidge.

“There’s actually less than I expected there be,” Hunk said. They had cross referenced Acxa’s data with their own. They were able to narrow down the results from those that had been caught, killed, or had less power. This left only a handful.

“This is only useful if we assume that Acxa’s prediction is correct.” Allura said. “If it’s not, then we’ll be wasting our time. It’d be easier to track down one ship than twenty warlords.”

“You think we should go after Ezor and Zethrid?” Hunk asked.

“If they did sell them off, it’d be easier to track them down through their ship’s databases. Trying to find them all one by one, could be more detrimate to us.” She replied.

“Nothing’s stopping us from doing both.” Pidge suggested.

“Except for the number of lions we have.” Lance reminded her.

“We could always get the MFE fighters out there.” Shiro suggested. “One set tracks down the galra, the other the prisoners.”

“The fighters hold two people at most,” Keith said. “We’re probably more equipped to get the prisoners out of there. We don’t know how many were taken, and we don’t want to risk leaving anyone behind.”

“We’re gonna need the Atlas, given that most of the prisoners are most likely going to need medical attention, and we can’t wormhole back to earth too often. Allura would get worn out.” Lance said.

“We’d still need to wormhole out into deeper space.” Pidge said. “The closest coordinates are far past Sendak’s prison.”

“We’ll prepare the Atlas. You guys get the lions on board, and we’ll start heading out.”

-

Shiro entered the pilot deck of the Atlas. All the lions were on board and they were ready for launch. He just needed to give the order. He walked up to the control panel, and pressed the comms.

“Allura,” He said. “Are you ready?”

“ _Yes Shiro_ ,” she replied. She was in the control room for the wormhole generator.

“Coordinates are in place,” Coran said.

“Alright guys,” Shiro said. “Let’s go.”


	8. Dinner?

Adam read his book on his bed. It was Friday, and he was planning to spend his whole night in there with not interruptions. His roommate wasn’t going to be back for awhile and he would have the room to himself.

The flights had started to feel different recently. He’d been getting to know Takashi more. Instead of the usual awkward goodbyes they usually exchanged after getting out of the ship, they started talking to one another. Neither had mentioned the night on the roof, or the talk they had in the garage. Takashi definitely hadn’t asked Adam to take him out into the desert on his hoverbike. He’d also stopped asking Adam to go to Plaht with him, which he wasn’t upset about. He really wasn’t. He one hundred percent never even considered going with him. Never….

There was a knocking the door that broke him from his concentration. Someone must have thought Jack was going to be there, but his roommate had already left. He’d let them know that he’d left, then go back to his book. He got up and opened the door.

“Sorry, Jack’s not here right now.” He said as the door slid open, barely sparing a glance to the person there. He froze. It wasn’t one Jack’s friends at the door.

“That’s okay.” Takashi said. “I wanted to see you anyway.”

Takashi was at his door. Takashi was right in front of him. Takashi wanted to see him. Adam’s brain was basically two seconds from breaking with that thought. He hoped he wasn’t staring at Takashi for to long before he answered.

“Okay, what do you wa-Hey!” Before he could finish his sentence, Takashi had grabbed him by the arm and pulled him into the hallway.

“We’re going to Plaht tonight.” Takashi said, a smile on his face. He was dragging Adam slightly down the hall.

“No, you’re going.” Adam dug his feet into the floor, and pulled himself back. “I am staying here. Goodnight.”

He was able to break out of Takashi’s grasp, throwing the other cadet off balance. He went back into his room, and pressed the button to close the door. Takashi stuck his hand in front of the door before it closed, and it slid back open.

“No, you are also going.” He grabbed Adam and pulled him back into the hall. “What’s the worst that could happen?”

“I could be murdered.” Adam replied. Takashi slammed his palm into his face and left it there. Which Adam didn’t get. That was literally the worst thing that could happen.

“Okay,” Takashi removed his hand from his face. “What’s the second worst thing that could happen?”

“Are you asking me to rate all the possible bad things that could happen to me in Plaht?” Adam asked.

“Technically you could be murdered anywhere if you think about it.” Takashi said, ignoring most of Adam’s statement. “Like, I could murder you right here if I really wanted to.” Adam stared at Takashi for a moment, then decided that he really didn’t want to deal with his weird logic at the moment, and took a step back. Takashi noticed, and a look of panic appeared on his face. “Don’t take anything I say seriously.”

“Does that include you deciding that I’m going to Plaht?” Adam asked sarcastically. Takashi started to look tired.

“Okay, question: Do you hate me?”

Adam was taken aback. He stared at Takashi, looking for some kind of joking look on his face. But he was serious. He actually thought Adam hated him.

“What?”

“Do you hate me?”

What had he done to make him think that. He was sure he did everything right, he’d never had anyone question if he hated them. He definatley did not hate Takashi. How was he supposed to answer this.

“No,” Adam felt small as he answered. He didn’t want to be wrong. He liked Takashi, really liked Takashi. He was the first person he was considering to become his friend.

“Okay. Well no offense, but you kinda suck at showing it.” Takashi had his arms crossed, but his face seemed less serious. Adam stared up and groaned it exhasteration.

“I know. I don’t-I just can’t.”

Adam was horrible at putting to words what was wrong with him. Just his stupid inability to talk to people and not think of the worst possible outcome, or figure out what to say next and not sound like a robot when he did. Or why he couldn’t make himself make friends. Or just couldn’t accept that there might be people who like him. It was actually pathetic.

“Okay.” Takashi seemed to understand whatever Adam was trying to say. Or at least wanted him to stop talking. Adam shook that last thought out of his head. He needed to stop doing that. “So you wanna go to Plaht?” Adam looked back at Takashi. This guy wanted him to go out with him, just after he asked if Adam hated him. He was never gonna get this guy. He probably didn’t actually want him to come with.

He almost punched himself in the face at that one. For once in his life he was going to do the opposite of what his brain was telling him and try and make a friend. Or at least talk to his flight partner. He could do that.

“Let me get my coat.”

-

“Adam, people. People Adam.” Takashi had dragged Adam over to a group of four, who he figured were Takashi’s friends. He pointed to the one with red hair and glasses. “This is my best friend Matt.” Matt, nodded at him. He then pointed to a girl with glasses and brown hair. “This is his flight partner, Veronica.”

“Hi.” she said, a small smile on her face.

“Hi.” Adam replied quietly. Takashi then did a gesture to the final person. Adam recognized her as the girl who met Takashi from the garage.

“And I think you’re aware of Kara’s existence.” He said.

“Hi, Adam.” Kara said. He gave her a shy wave, just as Matt suddenly moved into his personal space.

“So, you’re the only person in the world who doesn’t like Shiro?” Matt said. A bright smile appeared on his face, which Adam was not expecting, given that Matt thought he hated his best friend. He stuck out his hand to Adam. “Nice to finally that people like you exist.” Adam looked over to Taksahi quickly, who looked embarrassed. Thinking that Adam hated him must have really bothered him if he had told his best friend. He took Matt’s hand and shook it.

“Well, I mean. I wouldn’t say hate. I don’t not like him.” Adam replied.

“You didn’t immediately think he was the greatest person ever, so therefore you are a rare rare person.” Matt let go of Adam’s hand.

“Such a beautiful unicorn.” Kara said. She wrapped her arms around Adam’s shoulders lightly. “The only one in the whole universe.”

“Leave Shiro alone.” Veronica rolled her eyes. “Let him be nice to people.”

“Thank you, Veronica.” Takashi replied. “You are now my new best friend.” He gave a glare at Matt, who only gave a half heated shrug in response.

“I’ll live.” He replied. “I’ll find a new best friend in Plaht.”

“You barely go to Plaht.” Kara said.

“Not true. I just never go to any of the sketchy places that Shiro does.”

“I do not go to sketchy places.” Takashi tried to defend himself.

“Sure you don’t.” Matt said. He leaned over to Adam, and fake whispered. “I’ll make sure he doesn’t get you killed.”

“Oh my god.” Takashi muttered at the air. “What did I do to deserve this?”

“Everything.” Kara said. She then grabbed Veronica and Takashi by their arms. “Now come on, we need to get on a bus before the restaurant gets crowded.” Adam couldn’t help but feel a spike of jealousy at the way she just casually grabbed Takashi.

“Let’s go.” Adam then realized that Matt was talking to him. He decided it wouldn’t be too bad to walk with Matt. He seemed to have made a good impression before ever officially meeting him, but he’s bound to become a disappointment eventually.

Adam shook the thought from his head. Not tonight, he reminded himself. Tomorrow he could feel horrible about himself, and become socially inept. But for a few hours, he was not gonna let that happen. 

Just a few hours...

-

The four of them sat down at a restaurant only a block away from bus stop. It was simple, and seemed to be where a lot of Garrison students came to hang out in Plaht. They all placed their orders and talked while they waited. Adam noticed how at ease they all seemed with each other. Even Veronica, who Adam could tell was newer to the group of friends.

Matt seemed most invested in him. It probably had something to do with being Takashi’s flight partner, mixed with being the one person who didn’t immediately want Takashi to hang out with him. Which really didn’t have to do with Takashi and more to do with Adam being terrible at socializing.

Kara and Veronica were deep in a conversation, occasionally giggling at something that Adam didn’t pay attention to. Takashi would chime in at the right moments, but Adam noticed him occasionally glancing behind him at the bar. Adam seen a girl there, she was in the direction that Takashi was glancing at. He looked at Kara next to him. She wasn’t paying any attention to Takashi.

He saw Matt elbow Takashi, snapping his attention away from the bar. They seemed to have a very silent conversation with random gestures and eye contact. All of it seemed to indicate that Takashi should stop what he’s doing, but Takashi wasn’t listening.

“I’ll be right back.” Takashi said, as he got up from the table.

Kara didn’t say anything as he left, just giving a vague hand gesture. Matt shook his head and looked tired of whatever Takashi was going to do.

“You do realize that Takashi’s going to talk to the girl at the bar, right?” Adam said to Kara, able to get a word in during the pause in conversation.

“No he’s not.” Kara replied. Adam couldn’t help but be taken aback by her words. Did she really trust Takashi so much, that she couldn’t even see that it was right in front of her. She gave him a confused look, before a look of realization took over. “Oh, honey. That girl isn’t Shiro’s type.”

“The guy next to her, however, is.” Matt nodded his head back towards the bar. Adam looked over to see Takashi flirting with the guy at the bar. Very obvious flirting.

“Oh.”

“Yeah, I’d like to go someplace without him hitting on every guy he sees for once.” Matt said.

“You don’t get it,” Kara said. “When your options are limited, you’ll try and find them everywhere.”

“So, he’s not your boyfriend?” Adam asked Kara. She gave out a loud laugh.

“No, Shiro’s one hundred percent not my type.”

“I, on the other hand, am.” Veronica said. She grabbed onto Kara’s arm in a wrap around hug.

“I am very bad at this.” Adam said. He really sucked at reading people. Especially when it came to stuff like this. Which was stupid, given that he needed it in his everyday life.

“I, on the other hand, am very good at this,” Matt said. He sounded triumphant, but all that did was make Kara roll her eyes. “Which isn’t really helpful since I don’t need it, and Shiro won’t listen to me when I tell him that the guy he wants to hit on isn’t going to be into him.”

“Not true. It helps tell you which girls aren’t going to be into you.” Veronica said.

“That is true.” Matt replied, taking a quick sip from his drink. “Literally saw you, and all I knew was, yup gay.”

“That was your first thought when meeting Shiro wasn’t it.” She asked.

“Oh, I didn’t even need this completely useless yet magical gaydar. He had a rainbow flag in the pencil holder on his desk.”

“Seriously?” Adam really was kind of amazed at his stupidity in reading Takashi. Actually in reading everyone, but he was focused on the Takashi part right now.

“Seriously. You on the other hand, I needed it for. I almost needed the whole bus ride to figure it out.” Adam blushed.

“I-um,” Adam really didn’t know what to say. Should he take that as a compliment? “Should I take that as a compliment?” He had not meant to say that out loud.

“I think it’s more of something to remember for future reference,” Kara gave him a small punch in the shoulder, which didn’t hurt, but did leave a slight sting. “For the guy you’re going to date in the future.” Adam’s blushed deepened, but then became very tense. He could barely make friends, let alone date.

“Kara, you’re scaring the poor boy,” Veronica said. She reached over her girlfriend, and gave him a half hearted pat. “There, there. Don’t let them scare you. Also don’t let Shiro hit on you.”

“No offense to me, but I don’t think I’m Takashi’s type,” Adam was able to get out, trying to relax himself into a joking mood, but the other three were now giving him a weird look. “What?”

“You just called Shiro, Takashi,” Matt said. “I have literally never met anyone who's done that.”

“Why?” Adam asked. “It’s his name.”

“He just goes by Shiro,” Kara said.

“I really don’t get the point of nicknames,” Adam admitted. “It gets confusing. Most people already have a first, middle, and last name. That’s three name’s. Do we need to add another one?”

“As a person with three middle names,” Veronica said. “Just call him Shiro. It’ll be weird if you don’t.” Adam thought about it for a moment. He guessed he could call Takashi, Shiro.

“I guess you’re right,” Adam said.

Shiro, he thought. It didn’t feel right to call Taka- Shiro that, but he guessed he could roll with it. There wasn’t anything inherently wrong with it. Although he didn’t get why Takashi would want to go by a nickname. He thought that Takashi was beautiful-his name. His name was beautiful.

“You’re staring off into space,” Kara said, breaking Adam out of his thoughts.

“Oh, sorry,” He replied quickly. “What happened?”

“It was for like ten seconds, so nothing,” Matt said. “Except I just witnessed Shiro strike out.”

“No one saw that one coming,” Veronica said sarcastically.

“Saw what coming?” Takashi had returned to their table, pulling out his chair and sitting next to Matt.

“You getting rejected.” Veronica said. Takashi rolled his eyes and turned to Matt.

“How are you always right?”

“It’s a gift. A totally useless gift.”

Taka- Shiro knocked Matt on the side of his head, Matt knocked him lightly on the shoulder back. Adam couldn’t help but stare at Ta- Shiro. He had that beautiful smile as he talked to Kara. His beautiful grey eyes lighting up. Something about him was just a little bit perfect. His eyes wandered for a moment, and noticed Matt. Matt was now giving him a curious look.

“What?” He asked Matt. He just kinda wanted the staring to stop.

“Nothing.” Matt said quickly, and returned to conversation with everyone else.

-

Shiro stared up at the ceiling of his room, waiting for Matt to be done getting ready for lights out. Adam seemed more relaxed tonight. He liked seeing that. He really liked seeing this whole other side of him. A wet towel was suddenly thrown at his head.

“Hey!” He said throwing it off. Matt was on the other side of the room.

“Well, throw it in the hamper when you’re done,” Matt said. “And I won’t have to throw it at you.” Shiro threw it back at him, but Matt just caught it. Shiro decided to leave it, and started to wonder about Adam again.

“You got that look on your face,” Matt said.

“What look?” Shiro asked.

“The look that just screams trouble.” Shiro rolled his eyes. Matt considered to many things trouble. “What is it?”

“What did you think of Adam?” Matt paused for a second as if considering his answer.

“He seems nice. Well not nice nice, but nice enough. Kinda awkward, but he doesn’t like you so he’s already better than most people I know.” Shiro rolled his eyes. This is what Matt did to him. Made him roll his eyes at least twice in the span of five minutes. “Why?”

“Just asking.” He turned away from Matt and looked up at the ceiling again.

“No.” Shiro turned back over. Matt was staring at him angrily. “Absolutely not.”

“What?”

“You are not allowed to flirt, or pursue any kind of romantic or sex based relationship with him. He is your friend slash flight partner and that is it. Got it?” Shiro blinked.

“That’s not why I asked.” Shiro said. “I just wanted to know, okay.”

“Whatever. Night.” Matt turned out the lights, then hopped into bed.

“Night.” Shiro rolled to face the wall, and closed his eyes.

 _Matt had no idea what he was talking about_ , he thought. _He didn’t want to date Adam. He just liked him- as a friend. He was just really socially awkward, so it made him seem all cute every once in awhile. He also like talking to him. Especially when Adam was distracted. He said more and always seemed more there_. Shiro also liked flying with him. It was weird, they were forced together for their flight, and not matter how they were outside of the ship, they were completely in-sync there. When they got out, and the first thing Adam did was take off his helmet, his hair was not longer straight, but curly from the heat. Shiro wasted to run his hands through it, wanted to pull Adam close and-

Shiro opened his eyes wide.

Oh fuck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, Shiro, sweetie, honey.


	9. Alone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one's short, because It's so emotional and I didn't think I could write anymore. Like, I sad over this. Also there's an action scene in this, and it sucks.

Once they were out into the space, the team of MFE fighters were sent to look for Lotor’s former generals. The Atlas made its way to the first known prison, staying far enough away so that the Galra wouldn’t notice their presence The lion’s were then sent out. The paladins were able to split between attacking the base and getting the prisoners out and back to the Atlas. Luckily very few were in serious condition. All of them were shaken and some of them couldn’t even speak. When they got back to earth they were going to need help. It was like this at every place they went. The galra taken out, prisoners rescued, the return to the Atlas. They’d already contacted members of the other species they found, and were hoping that they could help them find their families.

Shiro stared up at the ceiling, unable to even try and sleep. He had no idea how he ever got sleep before coming back to earth. He didn’t have anything to help him now, and was being plagued by nightmares over the past few nights. He was running on less than normal. He decided to tire himself out on the training deck. If it didn’t work, it’d be something to do till morning.

The door swished open as he clicked the button. The ship’s crew was on different shifts, so he’d expected there to be someone there, but it was empty. It was okay with him, he really couldn’t deal with people at the moment. The deck had been reworked with Altean tech, so now they could call upon training dummies to practice fighting.

He entered the code for a standard bot. Just something simple to tire him out. 

The bot appeared in front of him. It stood still for about five seconds before it ran at him. Shiro charged at it. He hit it with his prosthetic hand in the neck, before kicking it. It was flown back slightly, and Shiro went to punch it, but it caught his hand. It kicked him back, and he rolled back to avoid hitting his shoulder. As he stood the bot came at him again, he was able to dodge the first punch, but was caught by the second one in his rib. That hurt more than he expected it too. He ducked below the arm and kicked the bot in the legs, but it jumped before he got the hit on it. He quickly rolled away as the bot landed a punch to the floor. Shiro was able to get a punch in the head, and the bot shut down. That used to be easier.

“You good?” Shiro turned around to see Keith standing at the entrance.

“Keith, I didn’t see you there.” Shiro said.

“Cosmo couldn’t sleep. So I was walking him around the ship,” Keith said as he walked over. Shiro noticed the wolf down at his feel following him. “What are you doing up? It’s like five in the morning.”

“I couldn’t sleep.” Shiro said, honestly. “I decided to train instead.”

“Yeah, and it looked like you needed it.” Keith kicked at the bot on the ground. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?” Keith gave him a skeptical look.

“You know why.” It took Shiro a moment, before realizing what Keith was talking about.

“Really, Keith. Now?” He started to walk away, but Keith just grabbed at his arm as he walked past.

“You never talk about him. About what happened.” Shiro yanked his arm out of the Keith’s grasp, and turned to face him.

“What do you want me to say.” Shiro gritted teeth. “He’s gone. Nothing’s going to change that.”

“You never-” Keith took a deep breath composing himself. “Did you ever think that maybe Adam is one of the people taken by Sendak? That he might actually be out there?”

Shiro stared at Keith, processing what he was saying. He was expecting him to take it back, but his face was serious. His eyes begging Shiro to agree with him. To at least consider it. Shiro clenched his fist.

“What the hell Keith.” Shiro could see shock in Keith’s eyes. “Why would you- Why would you say that!”

“Because it could be real! People were taken there after the first attack on earth, they were all a part of the Garrison! It’s possible!”

“That’s just what you want to think! I get that you found Krolia out in space, but not we’re not going to find every person who's gone out here.”

“This doesn’t have to do with that.”

“Why else would you think that he was alive! Some people are gone, and they’re not coming back. He’s not coming back. He’s gone. Adam’s…” Shiro couldn’t get out the rest, his voice becoming choked. He was so tired. So done. He fell to his knees, as tears fell down his face. “Adam’s gone.” He broke. “He’s gone. He’s not coming back.”

Shiro couldn’t stop thinking about it. Adam was gone. He was dead. The love of his life. The one person he wanted to get back to when he was out in space. The man he loved. He was supposed to spend the rest of his life with him. If he’d never gone to space, they would have had more time together. The galra would have never followed him back, never attacked earth. So many people would be alive. Adam would be alive. But he had to follow his stupid dream to go to space, and bring back the Galra with him. Why couldn’t he just be happy on earth? Just be with Adam, marry him. They’d make sure Keith didn’t do anything stupid while in the garrison. Everything would be okay. He’d trade every moment of the last six years, just to go back and say no to the mission. Kerberos wasn’t worth everything that had happened. His dream wasn’t worth it. It wasn’t worth Adam. He just wanted Adam.

Shiro hadn’t even realized that Keith was now holding him. Hugging him around his shoulders, and holding him close. The only thing he could do was keep crying.

“It’s okay.” Keith said quietly.

“It’s not. He’s gone and it’s all my fault.” Keith pulled himself back to that he was face to face with Shiro.

“What are you talking about?”

“If I had said no to Kerberos, I would have never been captured. The galra would have never followed me back, Sendak would have never attacked earth.” Keith’s eyes were becoming wider at each of Shiro’s words. “So many people are dead because of me. Adam’s dead because of me.”

“That’s not true! None of that was your fault, it was Zarkon’s.”

“Don’t Keith, just don’t.” Shiro’s limbs started to feel heavy. If Keith wasn’t there he would probably be lying flat on his face. His eyes began to flutter. “I’m tired Keith. Just, really tired. I just want to rest.”

Shiro didn’t even think as blackness took over.

-

Keith sat on black’s head, legs curled up against his chest as he hugged them. He wanted to look up at the stars like he normally did, but space didn’t exactly have oxygen, and there was no on here. So at least he was alone. Cosmo lapped at his hand in comfort, but Keith didn’t find any. The wolf had teleported Shiro back to his room after he passed out, and Keith to black immediately afterward. He knew he needed to be alone.

“Keith?” Keith glanced down to see Lance. “You okay?”

Keith didn’t answer, choosing instead to just pet Cosmo’s head. He could see out of the corner of his eye Lance coming closer to the lion. It was a couple of minutes before he heard the sound of footsteps behind him.

“Did you have to be all the way up here?” Lance was clearly panting, and Keith couldn’t help but smirk to himself. Lance would be the one to complain about climbing up to the spot where Keith wanted to be alone.

“Blame Cosmo,” Keith said. The wolf stirred slightly at his name but nothing more. “He got me up here.” Lance was now at his side, and glared down at the wolf before sitting.

“You okay?” He asked again. Keith let out a long sigh.

“I talked to Shiro…” He admitted.

“About Adam?” Keith just did a small nod in response. “Let me guess, it didn’t go well.”

“He’s just...he’s blaming himself.”

“For Adam dying?”

“For everything.” Keith curled his hand into a fist against his leg. “He thinks that if he never took the Kerberos mission, then the galra would have never attacked earth, and everything would be okay.”

“But that’s not true. The galra were going to attack earth anyway. We’re better off because we found the lions. If he never took the mission, earth would be a lot worse.”

“I know. But Shiro doesn’t see it that way. He’s gonna blame himself for everything, and I don’t know why. And I don’t know how to help.” Lance took a moment before answering.

“When my dad died, my sister, Rachel, blamed herself.” Keith looked over at Lance. He’d never actually heard Lance talk about his dad. “She got scared at a sleepover and called to get picked up. It was winter and it was snowing hard. There was an accident.” Lance stared down at his feet. “She kept saying he wouldn’t have been driving if she hadn’t gotten scared, and he’d be with us now. No one else thought that. It was just a stupid accident.”

“How’d she stop?”

“She got taken to a therapist. My mom could tell her a million time that is wasn’t her fault. But sometimes you have to hear it from a professional.”

“I can’t make Shiro go see a therapist.”

“Fine, I’ll make him go see a therapist. Or Hunk or Pidge. Not Allura though, I don’t know if she knows what a therapist is.” Keith smiled. “But, if you can’t help him, you might need to find someone who can.”

Keith’s lowered his face to his knees. He didn’t want to face the possibility that he couldn’t help Shiro. That someone else was going to have to. Someone who didn’t even know him.

“I just want him to be okay. He’s done so much for me, and I can’t do anything for him.”

“You’re there. Sometimes that’s enough.”

“What if Adam’s alive out there?”

“Even if he is, I don’t think that’s going to fix anything.”

“What do you mean?”

“Keith, Shiro’s been through a lot. If there’s something wrong, it’s more than just Adam.” Keith stared over at Lance. “I know you want to think that it can all be fixed with one thing, but it can’t.”

Keith didn’t say anything back. He just turned his gaze from Lance to the ship deck. After a minute, Keith heard Lance leave. Good. He needed to think.


	10. Stars

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would like to point out that I predicted Ezor and Zethrid coming back, and am pissed that they didn't bring back Adam. Also I know Shiro's husband's name was Curtis, but who was he? They never interacted. I hate this show.
> 
> I substitute Season 8 and replace it with my own.

Adam turned on the light of the completely empty garage, pulling the keys to his hoverbike out of his pocket as he walked towards it. He threw them in the air a couple of times. He quickly checked over the bike, finding nothing wrong with it. He grabbed his helmet from next to the bike.

“You still haven’t given me a ride.” Adam turned to see Takashi leaning against the garage entrance.

“You haven’t asked.” Adam replied.

Adam really liked talking to Takashi. They’d gotten to know each other more since the restaurant. He had even started to like Takashi’s friends. Although, Matt was still convinced he hated Takashi. Apparently he’d been looking forward to that for a very long time.

“Yes I have.” Takashi walked over. He was always so casual about everything he did. Like it never took any effort. Adam really shouldn’t be noticing the way he was walking.

“Once.”

“Yeah, and it was a permanent ask.”

Adam rolled his eyes, and gave a small smile. He’d gotten used to Takashi’s unusual brand of humor. It was really awful. But he couldn’t help but feel light at the small jokes. Takashi did that to him.

“Sorry, I didn’t realize it was permanent.”

Takashi leaned against the hoverbike. His smile was large, and Adam knew, he was gonna get what he wanted.

“So, take me for a ride.” Takashi winked.

Adam almost fell over knees weak, heart beating fast. This man never thought of what he was saying. Or what he was doing. He didn’t know what he would do if Takashi was closer to him. Holding on to him as they rode through the desert. It was stupid to want that. It was really stupid. It was really stupid what he said next.

“Grab a helmet.”

-

The garage door opened as Shiro grabbed one of the extra helmets lying around. He watched Adam as he swung onto the bike. He would have nothing to hold onto except for Adam. He really hadn’t thought this through. He was going to be right behind Adam, close to him, holding him. Shiro felt his face become warm. Damn his stupid months long crush that he couldn’t seem to shake.

Normally when he found a guy attractive, and knew he had no chance, he could easily move on. But Adam, he couldn’t get over. At first he thought it was because they were together more often, but really it was just because Adam was so... Adam. Shiro kept finding different little things he liked about him. The way he pushed his hair back, his eyes becoming wide, when he thought something was strange, or when he gets confused and blinks really fast, then doing a quick head shake. It was too cute.

Shiro pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind, as he climbed onto the bike, sliding behind Adam. He didn’t really want to put a little bit of distance between them, but decided it was probably better. He’d probably burn up from the inside out at even the smallest bit of contact.

“So, desert. Is there a place you go, or do you just get lost a lot.” Shiro asked, as he placed the helmet over his head.

“You’ll see. Just hold on.”

Adam started the bike, Shiro almost jumping at the sound. On reflex he grabbed Adam’s jacket, ending up right against him. There was a low rumble in Adam’s chest as he chuckled.

“I thought you’d done this before?”

“Shut up.”

The bike moved forward slightly, Shiro moving his feet from the ground to the bike. Adam revved the bike again, and they were flying. Shiro squeezed Adam close as they raced out of the garage, shutting his eyes tight on impulse.

He hadn't felt like this while riding in years. The tightening twist in his gut, clammy palms, dry mouth. Normally when he rode with Kara, he felt fine, aside from the bit of adrenaline rush, but nothing more. But with Adam, he felt so overwhelmed. His stomach dropping at each little movement that forced them closer together, which all just caused him to hold tighter.

“You okay back there?” The roar of the engine almost drowned out Adam’s voice. Adam was so close to him. He should loosen his grip, but even if he wanted too, the pressure as they moved kept them close. Letting go wasn’t even an option.

“Fine.” He replied.

 

Adam sped up the bike, the dessert stand rose when they sped up and started to hit the bike, and his leg. The sand mixed with the desert night cold and the vibrating bike, his legs were starting to feel numb.

“We're here.”

The bike started too slow, and Shiro opened his eyes just as it stopped. He slowly peeled himself away from Adam, not overly fond of letting go. Adam took off the helmet, Shiro unable to get a good look of the action from behind, and stepped off of the bike. Shiro pulled off his own helmet and joined Adam.

They were on a small sandy cliff edge, a single dried out tree next to them. The desert stretched for miles. The sky was different shades of blue and purple, with the stars speckled throughout and shining brighter than Shiro had ever seen them. No artificial light to block their own. The sky was reflected back in the desert like a mirror. It was beautiful. Shiro wanted to walk out and touch it. It practically spoke to him, he needed to be closer.

Shiro was suddenly jerked back by the pull on his arm.

“Careful, Takashi!” Shiro was now facing Adam. Adam’s eyes were wide, brows furrowed, and mouth in a frown. “There’s literally a cliff two more feet ahead of you.”

Shiro looked slightly behind him. The edge of the cliff was less than a foot away. He had not idea that he had even walked so far forward.

“Oh, sorry, I-uh.”

Shiro looked back at Adam, and rubbed at the back of his head. He felt a pressure over his hand, and looked down to realize that Adam was still holding it. Adam seemed to realize this as well, and quickly pulled it away. There was a moment of very awkward silence where neither looked each other in the eye, before Adam walked back to the bike and sat against it.

“It’s really beautiful out here.” Shiro broke the silence as he walked to join Adam.

“Yeah.” Shiro sat against the bike next to Adam. “It's quiet out here, without everyone.”

“Do you like being alone?”

“I wouldn’t say that, but people can be overwhelming.”

Shiro nodded. He loved being around people but he understood why Adam wouldn’t. Adam was staring up at the sky, completely silent, seeming to forget that Shiro was there with him. His eyes were so bright, the stars making them stand out.

“You called me Takashi.” Shiro said, breaking the silence. Adam eyes became wide, and Shiro could almost see red on his cheeks.

“Oh. Uh, yeah.”

“Nobody calls me Takashi. Everyone just calls me Shiro.”

“I don't really do nicknames. Also, I've been thinking of you as Takashi this whole time. It’s kind of hard to break that.”

“Really?”

“Well, if it bothers you I can stop.”

“No, it’s fine.” Adam stared at him for a moment. “Really I don’t mind.”

“You sure?”

“I’m sure.”

Shiro gave him a small smile, Adam smiled back. Everything was silent again, he should turn away, but Adam was right there in front of him. So relaxed, so calm. Nothing was between them. He leaned closer to him. Just a little more and Adam would be against him. Very close. Kissing distance.

There was a sudden small bleeping coming from his wrist, breaking the moment.

“That’s your watch.”

“Yeah.” Shiro pulled back from Adam, and clicked the button on the side, and turning off the alarm. He needed to take his medication, all the way back at the garrison.

“You okay.”

“Yeah. Hey, uh, I forgot to do something back at the garrison. Do you mind if we head back?”

“Sure.”

“You're okay with that right?”

“It's fine.”

Adam swung onto the bike, and pulled his helmet on. Shiro got on after. He didn't think about how close he would be to Adam. Didn’t really want to think about it. He was definitely not going to think about how he just possibly ruined their whole moment.


	11. Rescue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the reason that this chapter took so long is that this fic has gotten harder and harder to write. I refused to not finish it, because I can't abandon anymore fics. But my dwindling love for Voltron has defiantly made it take a backseat to other fics for fandoms I'm in. As much as I used to love Voltron (Season 1 and 2 specifically, mixed with the super emotional episodes in 4 and 6), I'm very much glad it's over. I lowered my expectations a lot throughout the series, but the fact is, I haven't had as fun a time as I expected. The show's disappointed me too much and the fandoms disappointed me a lot as well. I'm gonna finish this fic, but after it's over I'm done. It's just hurt too much to be a part of it all.
> 
> Again, I'm not letting this thing go unfinished so I'll try and get things up sooner, but it might be awhile. Sorry guys.

Adam laid his head back against the wall, arms and legs crammed between the other prisoners. Everyone sat in silence, the only breaking of silence was the occasional chorus of cheers from above, or the voices of guards. The cheers could become so loud that the walls and ceiling would seem to shake.

“The last fight was so boring.” Adam could hear the distorted voices of some galra walking down the hall, getting louder the closer they got.

“There’s been no new blood.” Another galra said. “That’s why they brought in a whole new batch.” The door slid open, three galra stood at the door.

“Which one goes first?” One asked.

“The feisty one.” The one in the center said. He pointed into the cell. Adam stared at the hand. They were pointing at him. “Our commander apparently spent a lot gak on him. Have to get him ready for the arena.”

One of the galra stepped into the cell, and grabbed Adam’s arm, dragging him out of the cell into the hall. He didn’t even think about pulling back. It was too much effort.

“I thought you said that he was feisty?” The galra holding him asked.

“He may not seem like much, but he was the only one who tried to escape the auction. So don’t let your guard down. Let’s go.”

The third galra grabbed his other arm and the two marched him down the hall, turning right at the end. Adam thought about keeping track of it all, about trying to find some possible way of escape. But it all seemed pointless. How far would he get before they caught him again or killed him.

What was the point.

-

Lance, Keith and Pidge snuck behind one of the rocks outside the small entrance of the galra arena. It was just a door that they could easily slip through without notice, only one guard. Lance could hear some cheers over the walls. It was so loud, he thought the Atlas could probably hear them.

“Hunk, Allura, are you guys in position?” Keith said through the com.

Lace thought that Keith seemed distant. Not like how he was back in their garrison days or when they’d first become paladins, but ever since the stuff with Shiro he’d been distant with everyone. Lance was worried. He did not like being worried about Keith.

“We're ready.“ Allura said from blue, her voice pulling Lance from his thoughts.

“On my go.” The three waited as the guard started to walk away for a shift change. “Now!” Allura and Hunk fired on the colosseum, shaking the structure and the meteor beneath it.

-

Lance opened up another cell, there were a mix of aliens and a few human prisoners inside. All their heads turned to him, eyes becoming wide with shock.

“A paladin of Voltron!” One of the aliens said weakly.

“We’re going to get you out of here.” Lance said. Several prisoners stood up, relief on all of their faces. “Does anyone need help getting out?”

No one answered him, as the rest stood up, those at the front took several small steps forward, out of cells. They looked to him in confusion, not sure where to go next.

“I want you to follow the other prisoners. Our ships are at the end of the corridor in the cargo bay. Pidge and Hunk, in the yellow and green will tell you where to go.” Several of the stronger prisoners ran out, while others cautiously walked and a few were helping some of the weaker one’s make their way down the corridor.

“Where’d they take him?” Lance turned at Keith’s voice to see him talking to one of the prisoners.

“Down that hallway,” The prisoner said as she pointed to the corridor heading in the opposite direction of the lions. “They didn’t say what they were taking him for.” Keith’s face hardened and he ran from the prisoner, past Lance and to the corridor.

“Hey, Keith!” Lance called and ran after him.

“You get everyone else out, I have to do something.” Keith said through the comms. Lance continued after him. Two galra bots were in front of Keith, but he took them out just as they redied their weapons.

“Keith!” Lance yelled again, but Keith continued to ignore him and ran faster.

He was entirely focused on whatever it was that he needed to do. Lance had only ever seen him like this a few times. What the hell was he after? Lance sped up and was able to get a grip on Keith’s arm. Keith jerked forward, but was pulled back off balance. Keith looked at Lance, anger in his eyes.

“What!” He yelled.

“Keith, what is going on?” Lance asked, voice laced with concern. Keith looked away from Lance, calming down slightly. He loosened his grip one Keith’s, Keith slipping his arm from Lance.

“There’s another prisoner,” Keith explained. “They took him down here, for something. I’m not sure what, but -“

Lance didn’t need Keith to finish. He knew what Keith was thinking about, who this prisoner could be.

Adam.

“Okay,” Lance walked past Keith. Keith watched him, confusion on his face. Lance looked back at him. “We got someone to rescue.”

Keith smiled at him and followed.

-

Adam watched as the galra grabbed a very sharp saw off the table. _Oh god_ , he thought. _They’re going to take my arm_.

“No!” Adam struggled against his restraints, but it was useless.

“Why must you all fight the inevitable?” Two of the galra held him down as the saw was lowered towards his shoulder. It began to spin like a chainsaw, and Adam could feel the heat coming off of it get closer and closer. He screamed.

There was a sudden blasting sound, and a minor shake as the metal door was suddenly blasted open. The heat moved away as the galra became distracted by the attack on the room. As smoke filled the room, someone entered the room, but it was hard to see who.

“Let him go!” The figure held a sword in his hand. Dressed in white and red armor. Adam almost didn’t recognize him. But he’d remember that angry emo voice anywhere.

“Keith!?” The stupid angsty kid that got kicked out of the garrison, blasted himself into space, and ignored him for months after Takashi’s disappearance. There he was blasting doors open and rescuing him apparently.

Two of the galra guards were headed straight for Keith, but were blasted back, as a second figure appeared behind him. He was dressed in a similar armor, only blue. He also carried a rifle instead of a sword.

Keith ran quickly at the galra right next to him, and gave them a quick kick in the face. The galra fell against the floor, hitting their head on the tray next to the them. They were out cold. Keith panted heavily before turning around. He took his sword and hacked at the restraints. Adam sat up and rubbed at his wrist.

“Adam?” Keith stared at him, completely hesitant, like nothing was real. Adam couldn’t believe it himself. There was this whole stupid idiot right in front of him.

“Yeah, kid.” Adam replied. “It’s me.”

Keith looked so similar, yet so different. His hair was longer, and there was a scar on his cheek. He looked older, more mature. Did he get taller? Adam didn’t have time to think about it, because suddenly he was being surrounded by Keith.

“Are you sure you’re Keith?” Adam couldn’t help but joke. “Keith never hugged anyone.”

Adam heard Keith sob, and that just broke him. He wrapped his arms around Keith as his own tears streamed down his face. It was Keith. The kid who Takashi brought into their apartment one day, and refused to leave. The one who didn’t trust Adam till he was forced to. The same one who used to sulk around being emo. The same one who used to trick Takashi into buying him take out instead of eating actual food. Who refused to believe that Takashi was dead, had convinced Adam of it and was right the whole time.

He pulled back from the hug. The same twelve year old was right in front of him.

“You’re alive,” Keith choked out. “I was starting to think I was crazy for believing that.”

“You’re still crazy,” Adam said. “But for your dumb stupid stunts.” Keith smiled. “Now you’re smiling? It’s official you’re not Keith.”

“Oh my god.” Keith said exasperated.

“Hate to break up the reunion,” Adam looked at the guy in blue, who had interrupted them. He looked kind of familiar. “But we gotta go.”

“Right,” Keith’s voice turned serious. Like Takashi’s when he lead a mission. “Can you stand?” Adam got himself off the table. His legs were a bit shaky from his arm nearly getting cut off, but he was fine. He nodded to Keith. “Good. Let’s go.”

They started to run out the door, and into the corridor. There was no one out there.

“This way.” Keith gestured in a direction. The three ran down the corridor.

“We didn’t get to properly introduce ourselves,” the guy in blue said to Adam. “I’m Lance.”

“Adam.” Adam replied.

“Really, Lance. Now?” Keith asked as they continued to run.

“Well you didn’t give me any time to introduce myself back there.”

“You’re the one who told us to go.” Keith stopped them at a corridor, and looked around it. He then ran forward.

“Don’t argue specifics with me.”

Adam could tell that this was standard for the two. They were going back way too fast for it to be a new thing.

“Keith, oh my god. You actually made a friend.”

He didn’t need to see Keith’s face to know he was scowling.

“Remind me again why I wanted you to be alive?” Keith muttered.

“It’s official, I like him.” Lance said. “He makes fun of you. I’m not alone in this universe!” It was then that two galra guards appeared. They pulled out their blaster, but Lance quickly pulled out his own, and shot them. “How close are we to the lions?”

Keith pulled up something on his arm. It was a small screen with what looked like a map.

“Just around that corner.” Keith gestured ahead.

They quickly ran towards two a large open door. The cargo bay was inside. It was filled with galra ships, but Adam stopped when he saw the lions. They were huge. When he first heard of them, he didn’t know what to expect. But he couldn’t even describe them. There were only two in there. The red one and the black one. Black was much bigger than red, and had red wings hanging off its back. He suddenly felt Keith tugging on his arm.

“Let’s go.” He followed Keith. At first he thought he’d go to the red one, but he went to the black one instead. They need to change their color scheme.

The mouth of the lion opened as they approached. Keith made his way up and Adam followed quickly behind. The main part of the lion held several prisoners, who Keith walked past to another part of the lion. Adam followed him, and entered what was apparently the cockpit.

“All set, Lance,” Keith says as he presses several buttons.

Adam tried to take it all in. Whatever the lion was, it was way more advanced that any technology he had seen before. There was nothing like it.

“All set,” Lance’s voice came through what was apparently the comm’s system.

The lion then started to lift off the ground. Adam watched as the outside changed around them, and suddenly they were in space. It was like a weight was suddenly lifted off of his chest. He was leaving. The hell he’d been through for the past several years was finally over.

He was going home.

**Author's Note:**

> Discord for fan fic prompts that is way too small to be even considered a server: https://discord.gg/wAATBEW


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